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U.S. court backs transgender student at center of bathroom dispute

Activist Gavin Grimm arrives for the Time 100 Gala in the Manhattan borough of New York, New York, U.S. April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
Activist Gavin Grimm arrives for the Time 100 Gala in the Manhattan borough of New York, New York, U.S. April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

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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