Gloucester County Schools ruled that students must use the restroom of their gender at birth, or use a private unisex facility. Student Gavin Grimes sued on the basis of discrimination and a federal judge rejected his claim. Now a three judge panel on the Fourth Circuit has overturned Gloucester county’s rule declaring the school policy to be discriminatory under Title IX which forbids gender discrimination in schools and colleges.
Gavin decided at age 6 that he would dress as a boy and identify as a boy even though he is biologically female. In 2014 he told his parents that he was transgendered. A psychologist diagnosed him as having gender dysphoria which means the boy is confused about what his gender is. His parents agreed to let him dress as girl, they also let him change his name and take hormones to make himself more masculine.
This ruling by the Fourth Circuit has far reaching effects. It covers all 5 states under the 4th Circuit, including North Carolina where they have recently passed a law which requires people to use the bathroom of the gender they were assigned at birth. The other states covered by this ruling in addition to Virginia and North Carolina are Maryland, West Virginia and South Carolina.
