By John Mack Freeman
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has found in a 2-1 decision that the US Department of Education’s interpretation that current civil rights laws protect transgender people is valid. The court upheld the interpretation as part of the 1972 Title IX Education Amendments. Via Buzzfeed:
The Gloucester County School Board, however, passed a policy that restricts students to restrooms reflecting their “biological gender.” The transgender student who was targeted by the policy, Gavin Grimm, brought this lawsuit in federal court, seeking an injunction against enforcement of the board’s policy.
The decision is a big victory for the Obama administration, which weighed in at the appeals court to support Grimm’s challenge, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which has been making the case for protecting LGBT people under existing civil rights laws since 2012. The Education Department, for its part, has beenpressing the Title IX interpretation with school districts since 2013.
The appeals court had heard the arguments in January, and Tuesday’s ruling is the first such appellate ruling in the country on the Obama administration’s policy — which it also has advanced regarding the sex discrimination ban under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
This ruling will impact the entire Fourth Circuit which includes North Carolina. Seemingly, this will invalidate a large chunk of the HB 2 law that the state passed in late March. The governor has said that he will abide by the court’s ruling but that he expected an appeal to be forthcoming.
