Double win!
In June, former student Gavin Grimm, 22, won a long-running dispute over free toilet options for transgender and non-binary people in American schools. Now he wins once more.
Background: The Supreme Court then dismissed an appeal from the Virginia State School Board. The 22-year-old, who was born with female gender characteristics and who today identifies as a man, fought for years to be allowed to use the boys’ toilet at his school.
Now lawyers for a school district and transgender student in Virginia settled out of court over a payment of $1.3 million (just under 1.1 million euros). It completely covers the full legal fees for Grimm’s seven years of litigation.
Grimm is now enrolled in a college.
The now 22-year-old grew up in Virginia and came out as a trans in 2014. He changed his name and started hormone therapy. After that, he was also allowed to use the boys’ toilet in his public school for two months.
But after violent protests from several parents of other students, the school forbade them to continue using the toilet in December 2014. This restriction also applies to changing rooms, for example in physical education.
transgender They are people whose gender does not temporarily or permanently match the gender perceived at birth. Sooner or later you will realize that you belong to the “opposite” gender. Or: You don’t want or can’t be classified as female or male.
The “German Society for Transsexuality and Intersexuality” (DGTI) uses the adjective “trans” as a generic term for transcendent, transsexual and transgender people.
The courageous teen started a legal battle against his school when he was just 15 years old.
Last summer, a federal appeals court ruled that his school was banning anti-discrimination laws. Virginia’s school board wanted to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision – FAIL!
“I am delighted that my school sees my years of struggle to ensure that I am who I am,” Grimm said after the decision in June. “Trans young people deserve to be able to use the toilet peacefully without being humiliated and stigmatized by their own school officials.”
case ended with fine
With the payment of the fine, the case is finally concluded. According to Josh Block, a lawyer for the civil rights organization American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Grimm’s legal opinion was “fully corroborated”.
Transgender rights are still a subject of heated political debate in the United States. In 2017, the administration of then US President Donald Trump (75) repealed a rule from previous President Barack Obama (59) that allowed transgender students to use toilets and changing rooms to be of the gender they believe. that they are related.
alphonso davidThe president of the Human Rights Campaign said: “Everyone has the right to an excellent public education without fear of discrimination, because one is brave enough to show who one really is.”
Gavin is brave in any case. With the rest of the money, he can now realize his personal plans for the future.
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