Where Should Gavin Grimm Use the Bathroom? The Case of a Transgender Student: An Education Amendment in the Virginia High School District

It is the middle of the academic year in a small town in Virginia. Dozens of speakers have gathered at a school board meeting for their chance to comment on the board’s most burning issue: Where should Gavin Grimm, a transgender boy, use the bathroom?

I had become the focus of headlines not just in my hometown but across the country. At that school board meeting, parents of kids I grew up with were calling me a freak directly to my face – and talking about my genitals in a public forum. They were willing to go so far as to hurt a child.

My fight for equality and freedom leads to the writing of a children’s book with co-author Kyle Lukoff. I’m hoping that even if transgender kids don’t have the support of a loving parent like I did, they’ll see themselves reflected in its pages.

These dangers are many, and they don’t all come at the hands of a potentially violent aggressor. A March 2022, report from the UCLA School of Law’s Williams institute estimates that 54,000 trans people between 13 and 17 are at risk of losing access to gender-affirming medical care amid a flurry of anti-trans bills proposed in statehouses.

I saw that threats to the lives of trans Americans had become a dangerous tipping point as a high school student. I never wanted to be an activist. I was a kid at the time. It felt like it was my job to spread the word about a community that has been pushed to the margins.

These treatments allow me and other people like me to be the person we were intended to be, and are among the best practices developed by leading health organizations.

They are being banned, challenged or indefinitely delayed, while people trying to transition are put through a series of hoops before they get access to treatment.

My case ended in a victory for trans students. The win at the Fourth Circuit level meant that, within the jurisdiction of Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, the protections afforded by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 include transgender people. The Supreme Court allowed the decision to stand, because they refused to weigh in. In the case of the Fourth Circuit, all schools were obliged to adopt policies that took into account the rights of trans students in the model policies from the Department of Education.

After wending its way through the system for four years, the courts ruled the school board was in violation of the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX of the US Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law barring schools from sex discrimination.

Or so I had hoped. In response to a variety of events, the policies adopted across the Fourth Circuit were appropriate.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/13/opinions/transgender-schools-virginia-bathroom-access-gavin-grimm/index.html

The Virginia Transgender Crisis: When Governor Glenn Youngkin walked out of school in protest of a student’s cross-country race

But last year saw the election of Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who ran on a platform that included blatant misinformation and targeted attacks against marginalized communities.

“Even in the face of professional guidance from every major medical and mental health association in the country that supports this type of care, politicians are intruding into the private medical decisions best left to transgender young people and their families,” said Casey Pick, director of law and policy for the non-profit advocating for the mental health of LGBTQ youth.

The Virginia model policy allows schools to go beyond the guidelines and even institute more restrictive rules if they so choose, as long as they are consistent with but not more comprehensive.

Gov. Youngkin seems willing to reject not only established federal law but also guidance from leading authorities when it comes to the physical and mental health of children and young adults. Youngkin and his administration have couched discriminatory actions in language about protecting children, religious liberty and the rights of parents, but it is my belief that his real agenda is scapegoating a minority already under duress, in a cowardly bid to gain support from his base.

He may succeed in that, but his gains will be temporary. Thousands of students walked out of school to protest against the restrictions on trans students proposed by Youngkin. Protests are continuing against this unjust proposed policy. The transgender community is not going away.

The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, which oversees scholastic sports, said in 2021, when the suit was filed, that it had not received any complaints about transgender athletes on girls’ teams.

The American Civil Liberties Union, along with its West Virginia chapter, filed a lawsuit on behalf of a girl who wanted to run in a middle school cross-country race. The lawsuit named the state and county boards of education and their superintendents as defendants.

The lawsuit did not challenge the Legislature’s definition of “girl” and “woman”, but it was asked to determine if the Legislature’s definition of those terms is constitutionally permissible. The Save Women’s Sports Bill says that it means anyone assigned the female gender at birth.

“The legislature’s definition of ‘girl’ as being based on ‘biological sex’ is substantially related to the important government interest of providing equal athletic opportunities for females,” Goodwin determined.

In his Thursday decision, he said the plaintiff, “like all transgender people, deserves respect and the ability to live free from judgment and hatred for simply being who she is.” There wasn’t enough evidence that lawmakers passed the legislation with harmful intent.

Goodwin noted that at the time the measure was passed, there were no widespread reports of transgender girls participating in sports. It was apparent, he said, “that the statute is at best a solution to a potential, but not yet realized ‘problem.’”

State Senator Mike Cox fought a state-level Utah law barring gender-affirming health care and allowing scholarships to pay for education outside the public school system

Had the legislature not done so, there would have been no reason for the court to weigh in on the issue, he continued. “Nevertheless,” the judge concluded, “I must do so now.”

West Virginia had the highest percentage of people who identified as LGBT in all regions of the US, according to a study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. That equated to about 1,150 teens.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s Republican governor on Saturday signed bills that ban youth from receiving gender-affirming health care and allow families to receive scholarships to pay for education outside the public school system, both measures that are part of larger nationwide movements.

Cox said in the statement that his decision was based on his belief that more and better research could help decide the long-term consequences of these treatments.

“For those who disagree with us, we want to make sure they know that we’re rooting for the best interests of our families and that we respect them as we work to understand the science and consequences behind these procedures,” he said.

In its letter to Cox, the civil rights organization said it was deeply concerned about “the damaging and potentially catastrophic effects this law will have on people’s lives and medical care and the grave violations of people’s constitutional rights it will cause.

“By cutting off medical treatment supported by every major medical association in the United States, the bill compromises the health and well-being of adolescents with gender dysphoria. It makes it hard for doctors and parents to fulfill their professional obligations by cutting access to the only evidence-based treatment for this serious medical condition.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Mike Kennedy, a Republican family doctor has said government oversight is necessary for vital health care policy related to gender and youth.

State Senator Sam Cox signed a bill to allow public education scholarships at private and parochial schools in Utah, Utah, and South Dakota

Cox also signed another measure that would allow for scholarships to be given to students to attend private and parochial schools. The bill increased teacher pay and benefits to help fix the teacher shortage in the state.

The year has become a landmark one for school choice battles, with at least a dozen other states considering similar legislation. There were concerns about efforts to gradually privatize public education after the debates. They could transform the relationship between the state government and the education system and make it harder for people to know which states have good schools and which ones have bad.

Utah has a measure that allocates $42 million in taxpayer funds to help students attend private schools. Roughly 5,000 students would receive $8,000 scholarships, which is roughly double the state’s “weighted pupil unit” funding that follows students to their schools. $6,000 in salary and benefits for Utah teachers are included in the bill to appease the state’s teachers’ union.

“School choice works best when we adequately fund public education and we remove unnecessary regulations that burden our public schools and make it difficult for them to succeed,” Cox said.

South Dakota is the second state in recent weeks to restrict care for trans children, after several other states did the same.

Sex hormones, surgery for gender transition, and puberty-blocking drugs can’t be prescribed in patients under the age of 18. Health care providers who violate the new law, which takes effect on July 1, risk civil suits and losing their professional or occupational licenses.

Proposed South Dakota Measures Controlling Gender-Afirming Care for Minors and Their Implications on the American Civil Liberties

A person’s assigned gender at birth is their affirmed gender, which is why it’s necessary to provide gender-affirming care that helps them transition from their assigned gender to their affirmed gender.

“We care deeply about children who are struggling with their identities and want to provide them with true meaningful help, not permanent physical damage,” the Republican said.

Though gender-affirming care is highly individualized, some children may decide to use reversible puberty suppression therapy. This part of the process may include hormone therapy that can lead to gender affirming physical change. Surgical interventions, however, are not typically done on children and many health care providers do not offer them to minors.

Prior to the bill being passed, Democratic state Sen. Liz Larson said Surgeries-gone- wrong are not happening in South Dakota. I don’t need the state legislature when I am in the doctor’s office.

The signing of the new law was condemned by the Americans Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties of South Dakota.

The Florida Department of Health, meanwhile, said last April that children who identify as transgender or gender diverse should not be offered any social transition care, while Alabama earlier that same month passed a law making it a felony for doctors to administer gender-affirming care for minors.

The number of states banning could continue to grow this year. More than 80 bills seeking to restrict access to gender-affirming care have been introduced around the country through February 9, according to data compiled by the ACLU and shared with CNN.