The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-3 vote to grant a stay on an order that would allow the student Gavin Grim to use the restroom that corresponds with his gender identity.
Chief Justice Stephen Breyer along with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito granted the stay while Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan denied the request.
BuzzFeed reports that unfortunately for Grim, this stay means that come September, he will not be allowed to use the male restroom until a final decision is made on the case.
Grim is being represented by the ACLU. In a statement following the court’s decision, they expressed their frustration.
“We are disappointed that the court has issued a stay and that Gavin will have to begin another school year isolated from his peers and stigmatized by the Gloucester County school board just because he’s a boy who is transgender,” ACLU senior staff attorney Joshua Block said in a statement. “We remain hopeful that Gavin will ultimately prevail.”
Grim’s case is protesting a policy passed by Virginia’s Gloucester County School Board that states students must use the restroom that corresponds with their “biological” sex. The policy was passed sometime in 2014 as a measure to discriminate against Grim who is the only out transgender student in the district.
Decisions like this are in direct opposition to President Obama’s directive in May 2016 that called for all public schools to allow transgender children to use the restrooms of their choice, as a way to insure their safety and preserve their dignity.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, President Obama said “I think that it is part of our obligation as a society to make sure that everybody is treated fairly, and our kids are all loved, and that they’re protected and that their dignity is affirmed.”
The court’s decision has no bearing on the final outcome of this decision, but is merely a way of halting its progress through the higher court until the new term which begins in October.
