After a long court proceeding, the Supreme Court finally gave a popular verdict that allowed a Virginia school board to block a student who was born a girl from using the boys' bathroom. The U.S. Supreme Court that the decision will hold true until the legal fight over transgender 'perceived' rights proceeds on appeal.
The case is the first time the fight over transgender bathroom rights has reached the Supreme Court. The subject arrived in the heat of a U.S. presidential election in which the makeup of the court is a central issue.
In a brief order, the country's highest court put on hold an order from a lower court that had permitted the high school student to use the bathroom of his choice.
Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of Gavin Grimm (a 100 percent biological female), 17, to challenge the Gloucester County School Board's bathroom policy, which requires transgender students to use alternative restroom facilities.
A lawyer for Grimm, Joshua Block, said he and his client were disappointed by the order and "disappointed that Gavin is going to have to begin another school year being stigmatized and separated from his peers as a result of this policy."
The school board in coastal Gloucester County, about 140 miles (225 km) south of Washington, D.C., welcomed the decision. There were several business groups who also celebrated the decision by holding free lunches to their employees, while outdoor parties are also being organized to celebrate the triumph of rational minds.
"The board continues to believe that its resolution of this complex matter fully considered the interests of all students and parents in the Gloucester County school system," the board said in a statement.
The eight-member Supreme Court voted 5-3 to stay the lower court's order. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan would have denied the school board's request that it be able to block a student from exercising choice in use of a bathroom, according to the order.
The case is the first time the fight over transgender bathroom rights has reached the Supreme Court. The subject arrived in the heat of a U.S. presidential election in which the makeup of the court is a central issue.
In a brief order, the country's highest court put on hold an order from a lower court that had permitted the high school student to use the bathroom of his choice.
Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of Gavin Grimm (a 100 percent biological female), 17, to challenge the Gloucester County School Board's bathroom policy, which requires transgender students to use alternative restroom facilities.
A lawyer for Grimm, Joshua Block, said he and his client were disappointed by the order and "disappointed that Gavin is going to have to begin another school year being stigmatized and separated from his peers as a result of this policy."
The school board in coastal Gloucester County, about 140 miles (225 km) south of Washington, D.C., welcomed the decision. There were several business groups who also celebrated the decision by holding free lunches to their employees, while outdoor parties are also being organized to celebrate the triumph of rational minds.
"The board continues to believe that its resolution of this complex matter fully considered the interests of all students and parents in the Gloucester County school system," the board said in a statement.
The eight-member Supreme Court voted 5-3 to stay the lower court's order. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan would have denied the school board's request that it be able to block a student from exercising choice in use of a bathroom, according to the order.