NORFOLK, Va. (AP) – Gavin Grimm will be back in a Virginia courtroom to fight against his former high school’s transgender bathroom policy.
A federal judge in Norfolk will hear arguments Tuesday over whether the Gloucester County School Board violated Grimm’s rights when it banned him from using boys’ bathrooms.
The hearing is the latest step in a yearslong legal battle that has come to embody the debate over transgender student rights. The issue is far from settled across the nation.
U.S. District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen is unlikely to rule from the bench Tuesday. But her eventual decision could impact schools in Virginia. It could reverberate further if the case reaches a federal appeals court.
Grimm, who is now 20, filed his lawsuit in 2015. He has since become a national face for transgender student rights.
Grimm and the American Civil Liberties Union say the school board violated his rights under the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause as well as under Title IX, the federal policy that protects against gender-based discrimination.