US District Court Judge Robert G. Doumar, having been overruled on the topic of the applicability of Title IX by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, has ordered that the Gloucester County School System must allow Gavin Grimm to use the boys restroom while his discrimination case continues to be litigated.

Thursday's ruling was not a surprise, given that Doumar was merely implementing a higher court's reversal of his own prior decision. Still, his court order is what actually opens the door for Grimm to use the boys' room at the county's high school.

I am elated to hear that I'll be able to attend my senior year of high school with my full rights restored. After nearly two years of humiliation and intense struggle, equality has finally prevailed. Now hopefully other transgender people will not have to face this type of discrimination.

--Gavin Grimm

The School Board understands the implications of the order and will continue to defend its reasonable and nondiscriminatory solution to this issue at the Supreme Court and trial court levels.

--Gloucester County School Board

GCSB plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The School Board contends that its chosen accommodation — in which Grimm is by policy to use a unisex restroom that's separate from regular boys' and girls' bathrooms — is both reasonable and protects the privacy of other students at the school.

Grimm's lawyers, for their part, assert that a separate restroom unfairly stigmatizes Grimm by making him an outcast among his peers. They contend that allowing him to use the bathroom of his identified male gender does not impinge on the privacy rights of other male students.

This ruling may affect another Virginia Case...in Stafford County.

Last year, the Stafford School Board ordered a Hartwood Elementary school fifth-grader, who was born with male anatomy but identifies as a female, to use a staff bathroom or the boys’ bathroom.

The transgender student’s mom has said she hopes the Stafford School Board replaces their stance with one that creates schools that are more inclusive of transgender students.

A new video was released today

Trans 102: Bathrooms, from Transparent director Silas Howard.