The Supreme Court declined the opportunity to reverse a ruling that allowed transgender students to use the bathrooms of the sex they identify with.
The case involved Gavin Grimm, a female student who identifies as a male who sued the Gloucester County school board for saying bathrooms were “limited to the corresponding biological genders.”
According to The Washington Post, the case “began in 2015 when Grimm sued his school system. The Gloucester County School Board is appealing the District Court ruling that said its policy discriminates on the basis of sex.”
“The case initially reached the Supreme Court in 2017, but the argument was canceled after President Trump reversed an Obama administration rule that had directed schools to allow students to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity,” the Washington Post added.
The Obama administration claimed in 2016 that “Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and its implementing regulations prohibit sex discrimination in educational programs and activities operated by recipients of Federal financial assistance. This prohibition encompasses discrimination based on a student’s gender identity, including discrimination based on a student’s transgender status.”
The following year, the Trump administration reversed the Obama administration’s guidance, writing, “These guidance documents take the position that the prohibitions on discrimination “on the basis of sex” in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., and its implementing regulations, see, e.g., 34 C.F.R. § 106.33, require access to sex-segregated facilities based on gender identity. These guidance documents do not, however, contain extensive legal analysis or explain how the position is consistent with the express language of Title IX, nor did they undergo any formal public process.”
