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Gavin Grimm

RICHMOND, Virginia, September 4, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – The school district at the heart of one of the United States’ most high-profile transgender bathroom controversies has filed another appeal in hopes of not being forced to mandate students share restrooms with members of the opposite sex.

Gavin Grimm is a female Gloucester High School graduate who “identifies” as male, and rose to prominence after challenging the school’s restroom policy starting in 2014. The Gloucester County School Board originally attempted to accommodate her request by letting her use a private restroom, but Grimm demanded access to the same restrooms used by male students.

District Judge Arenda Wright Allen sided with Grimm in May 2018, ruling that the policy “classified Mr. [sic] Grimm differently on the basis of his [sic] transgender status and, accordingly, subjected him [sic] to sex stereotyping.” The year before, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear the case.

The board appealed, but Allen ruled again last month there was “no question” that it was discriminatory to keep gender-confused males out of female restrooms. The judge rejected school board attorney David Corrigan’s argument that gender is a physical reality rather than a social construct.

Now the school board is appealing the case to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Associated Press reports. The two sides’ briefs have not yet been submitted to the court.

Earlier this year, the school board floated a compromise in which “transgender” students would be allowed to select their preferred bathroom provided they submitted medical documentation and could show a track record of “consistently asserting” their claimed gender via social transition or hormonal therapy, but withdrew it following outcry from community members.

Schools that haven’t yet surrendered to transgender activists generally accommodate gender-confused students by allowing them to use private staff restrooms or other single-occupancy facilities. Conservatives argue that forcing children and teens to share intimate facilities with members of the opposite sex violates their privacy rights, subjects them to needless emotional stress, and gives potential male predators a viable pretext to enter female bathrooms or lockers.

The 20-year-old Grimm is no longer a Gloucester student affected by the policy, but continues to pursue the case in hopes of setting a precedent that will forbid public schools across the country from restricting restrooms to actual members of a biological sex.