Ruling Could Impact North Carolina’s HB2
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has just ruled that federal civil rights laws include transgender people in cases involving education discrimination. The 2-1 ruling is in a Title IX case involving a Virginia transgender boy suing for the right to use the boys’ restrooms at his school. It affirms the Obama Administration’s interpretation of Title IX, that discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination, and reverses an earlier dismissal of the student’s claim, as Equality Case Files notes in this excerpt:
The ruling allows the Virginia teen’s case to move forward, the Washington Post reports.
The Department of Education’s “interpretation resolves ambiguity by providing that in the case of a transgender individual using a sex-segregated facility, the individual’s sex as male or female is to be generally determined by reference to the student’s gender identity,†Judge Henry Floyd wrote.
It is a major ruling, and as ThinkProgress’ Ian Millhiser notes, “North Carolina is in the Fourth Circuit,” which means today’s ruling is a huge blow to anti-LGBT law HB2.
Researcher Dr. Gary Gates tweeted that the ruling “likely means” HB2 “is on the way out.”
Chris Geidner at Buzzfeed notes that today the “court did not, however, grant the preliminary injunction the student, Gavin Grimm, sought, instead sending the case back to the district court to reconsider his request. The appeals court also declined to reassign the case to another judge at this time.”
Last fall the Obama administration offered historic support for the transgender student in the case, referred to as “G.G.” in court documents, filing an amicus brief supporting his right to use the boys’ restroom.
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Image by Deanna LeBlanc via Twitter