U.S. court backs transgender student at center of bathroom dispute
Thomson Reuters
By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday ruled that federal law protects a transgender student who fought all the way to the Supreme Court for the right to use a bathroom at a high school in Virginia that corresponded with his gender identity.
U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen rejected a bid by the Gloucester County School Board to dismiss the lawsuit filed by student Gavin Grimm. In doing so, the judge found that Grimm is covered by a federal law that bars discrimination in education. Grimm graduated from high school in June 2017.
Grimm, 19, was born a girl and identifies as male. Grimm had sued the school board to win the right to use the public school's boys' bathroom. Grimm argued the school's refusal violated a federal anti-discrimination law called Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.
The judge said the parties should schedule a settlement conference within 30 days.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)
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