Final chapter in Gavin Grimm's case closes with Supreme Court's silence

After approximately six years of litigation, Gloucester County High School graduate Gavin Grimm has finally prevailed in his fight against the school board's policy requiring students to use the restroom matching their sex assigned at birth. While Grimm, a transgender male who has long since graduated from the high school, won't be able to enjoy the fruits of his labor directly, his win paves the way for many others in the transgender community in both the educational and the employment contexts.

After multiple trips up and down the federal judicial hierarchy, his suit challenging the bathroom policy as unconstitutional and in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 seems to have finally reached its end with the U.S. Supreme Court's recently denial of the board's petition seeking to appeal the case's recent ruling from the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Maryland and Virginia employers).

4th Circuit victory

As those following the case will remember, Grimm's most recent victory came when the Richmond-based 4th Circuit issued a 2-1 decision finding the board's restroom policy violated the student's constitutional rights and Title IX protections. The court relied heavily on the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions of and Altitude Express, Inc. v. Zarda issued only months earlier, which extended the protections provided by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity.