Last week the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, a case involving transgendered students and schools’ discriminatory bathroom usage policies. In the case, plaintiff Gavin Grimm attempted to use the boys’ bathrooms but Gloucester High School in Virginia barred him from doing so because he was assigned female at birth. Instead, the school required Gavin to use the single-occupancy bathroom. Gavin sued the school alleging he suffered discrimination on the basis of his gender identity in violation of Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. After a lengthy procedural history, the Fourth Circuit extended the reasoning in the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County and interpreted Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause to prohibit discrimination against transgender students.
The denial of certiorari leaves in place this Fourth Circuit ruling and its expanded view of Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause. Schools must allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that align with their gender identities. Other circuits, including the Seventh and Eleventh Circuits, have issued similar rulings. Our team published a full alert on this development which can be found here.