Costs Big time to Lose

 Costs Big Time to Lose

 

Gavin Grimm was a transgender student in Virginia.  The school system refused to allow Gavin to use the boys’ restroom.  This is America so Gavin’s family sued the school district.   Justice is often very slow and it was particularly  slow in this case.  It took over six years of litigation led by the American Civil Liberties Union.   About two months ago, the Supreme Court refused to review a lower court ruling.  

  As a high school student Gavin requested to use the boy’s restroom.  The school board denied his request.  There was a huge backlash and finally the school board said he could use a bathroom in the nurse’s office just for him.  Grimm found the accommodation humiliating and having to travel to an out-of-the way portion of the school to use a restroom damaging to his education.

Grim won in the U.S. District Court.   The school board appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals where the Board lost again.  The Board then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court agreed to take the case.

But then Donald Trump won the presidency.  His administration tilted toward curtailing not advancing transgender rights.  So, the Justices changed their collective mind and sent the case back to the lower court.

By this time, Joe Biden was elected president and the views of his administration shifted towards transgender rights.  In August 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4^th Circuit ruled in favor of Grimm, saying that the actions of the Board discriminated on the basis of sex and had violated the 14^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Game not quite over!  The Board appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court again.  This time the high court refused to hear the case, which meant that the lower court ruling in favor of Gavin Grimm was now officially permanent.

To the victor belongs some spoils.  Grimm and his attorneys went back to the Gloucester School Board and asked for a settlement since they had prevailed.   In the end the school board agreed to pay 1.3 million dollars to cover Grimm’s attorney’s fees and other costs associated with Grimm’s discrimination case.   The settlement came about two months after the Supreme Court allowed the lower court ruling to prevail.

Gavin Grim is now in his 20’s.   The ACLU has stated that it feels Gavin has been fully vindicated.   Mr. Grimm has declined to comment.  Most western cultures have gender neutral bathrooms.   America seems to have a real issue with that policy.   Makes one wonder how many homes have bathrooms that are separated by gender.