Gloucester County School Board v. Gavin Grimm

Although Title IX prohibits schools from discriminating “on the basis of sex,” 20 U.S.C. §1681(a), it expressly permits them to provide separate living facilities, including restrooms, for the different sexes. 20 U.S.C. §1686; 34 C.F.R. §106.33. This protracted case began when Gavin Grimm, a biological female who self-identifies as male, challenged the local school board’s decision to require him to use either a unisex restroom or a restroom assigned to members of his biological sex, i.e., girls. Four years ago, this Court granted certiorari in this case after the Fourth Circuit deferred to an unpublished letter from the Department of Education, asserting that Title IX requires schools to treat students consistent with their gender identities rather than their biological sex. After a new Administration withdrew that letter, the Court vacated and remanded. The district court and the Fourth Circuit then held that both Title IX and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause forbid schools from denying transgender students access to the restrooms assigned to the opposite biological sex. Following yet another election, the current Administration has announced it intends to enforce that position nationwide. The question presented is: Does Title IX or the Equal Protection Clause require schools to let transgender students use multiuser restrooms designated for the opposite biological sex, even when single-user restrooms are available for all students regardless of gender identity?