Supreme Court Blocks Transgender Teen From Using Boys' Restroom

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jjgervasi/iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a 16-year-old transgender teen from being able to use the boys’ restroom amid plans by the school board to challenge a lower court ruling on the matter.

Justice Stephen Breyer granted the preliminary injunction Wednesday, after the Eastern District of Virginia ordered on June 23 that the Gloucester County School Board allow the student, Gavin Grimm, to use the boys restroom under Title IX.

Grimm, who attends Gloucester High School, filed a lawsuit against the school board, alleging that its policy that requires transgender students to either use a restroom that corresponds with a student’s biological gender or a private, single-stall is illegal.

After informing the Gloucester High School principal about his transition, he received permission to use the boys restroom in 2014 for several weeks, he said. But the school board voted in favor of the new policy after some parents complained, according to public meeting minutes posted online.

Grimm’s attorney, Joshua Block, of the American Civil Liberties Union, said he was disappointed that “the court has granted the stay and Gavin is going to have to start another school year being stigmatized and isolated by the policy.”

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