Trans Kids Are Already Hurting Under Trump
Repealing Barack Obama’s trans-protections bars people from public life
by LAURA KATE
At age 17, Gavin Grimm is in many ways like other teenage boys in America. He’s attending school in Virginia, has only a few months left in compulsory education and is eager to get on with the rest of his life.
Unfortunately, one aspect of his time at school isn’t going to get closure as soon as he might have hoped.
Back in May 2013, Pres. Barack Obama issued federal guidance to schools across the United States. According to the guidance, schools receiving federal cash would need to protect the gendered space access rights of transgender students to keep receiving federal funds.
This guidance came as a result of the Justice Department interpreting unclear wording in Title IX, which bans federally-funded institutions from discrimination on the grounds of sex.
The Obama administration’s guidance interpreted that provision in Title IX as protecting the rights of transgender individuals to be free from discrimination in federally funded settings, and set a clear expectation — on a federal level — that the government should protect trans people’s gendered space access rights.
This is where Grimm’s story begins. Grimm is a trans man, designated female at birth but living as male, for whom Obama’s interpretation of Title IX provided a legal battleground to fight for his right to access gendered spaces in school.
Grimm sued the Gloucester County School Board to win the right to use the public school’s boys’ bathroom. He argued the school’s refusal violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the U.S. constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.
The Richmond Court of Appeals sided with Grimm back in April 2016, and it seemed like the Obama administration’s trans guidelines had earned at least one trans man the right to use the men’s bathroom.
On March 28, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court had been due to rule on Grimm’s case. Following Pres. Donald Trump’s withdrawal of that Obama-era guidance, the Supreme Court has cancelled its hearing on the case and has sent it back to the lower court for a fresh ruling.
We’re talking about a 17-year-old guy who was given permission under Obama to go take a dump in the men’s room between classes. Thanks to Trump, for the time being Grimm has to go back to using the women’s restroom.
Trump repealing Obama’s federal guidelines for trans protections is more than just an empty gesture. The repeal of these Title IX interpretations is having real-life consequences for actual kids in America just trying to survive public education.
Thanks to Trump’s repeal, a man called Gavin will now have to walk into the women’s bathrooms in his school.
Still, Gavin’s battle isn’t over — and there are still ways Gavin can pull a victory for the trans community out of this undeniable setback. Lawyers at the lower courts will now have to once again fight the same case, but now without being able to lean on Obama’s previous guidance.
They can still point to the total absence of any evidence that trans-protections put cis people at increased risk of assault. They can present elements from Gavin’s life that demonstrate that gendered facilities for men are the most appropriate place for Gavin. They could still potentially set an important precedent for a case of this kind to be won without the help of Title IX.
Remember, these bathroom restrictions stop transgender people from more than simply using the bathroom. They also preclude trans people from broadly participating in public life. When you’re unable to use a gendered bathroom, school and work and socializing and travel can all become more or less impossible.
Letting Gavin take a piss in the men’s room doesn’t cause any issues for the world, and allows him to take part in public life. It’s a vital part of him being able to finish school.
Stand up to Trump. Urge him to reinstate Obama’s federal transgender protections guidance. The repeal of these guidelines is already hurting trans kids like Gavin.
Stay defiant.
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