"The guidance," the Department of Justice said at the time, "makes clear that both federal agencies treat a student's gender identity as the student's sex for purposes of enforcing Title IX."The letter was a bold move by the government to enforce protections for a marginalized segment of the population, and the guidance is still entrenched in controversy. In response to the DOE's letter, state governments freaked out and began suing the administration, arguing that the Obama administration did not have the power to interpret Title IX or force states to conform to that interpretation.In June, Politico wrote that "legal scholars have said it will take the Supreme Court or an act of Congress to make clear that gender identity is protected by federal civil rights laws." That situation is now reality, and the trial is set for March in the case of Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board. Gavin Grimm, a trans teen, successfully sued his Virginia school district for the right to use the boys bathroom at his school—but that ruling was appealed, and in fall of 2016, the Supreme Court agreed to review the appeal.
Today, Chase Strangio, Grimm's lawyer at the ACLU, shared a public notice on Facebook warning his followers of potential pending actions by the Trump administration that could impact this case and the federal protection of trans civil rights. Strangio's statement reads:
Broadly will be reporting throughout the Grimm trial in March.IMPORTANT: it is likely that the Trump administration will today rescind guidance issued by the Obama administration in May. This guidance was important because it clarified the scope of protections for students who are trans under Title IX's ban on sex discrimination. Rescinding the guidance is cruel and will accomplish nothing but to hurt kids who are trans. What is also true, though, and very important is that rescinding the guidance does not change the rights of students under Title IX. Trans students are protected from discrimination by federal law and the administration can't change that. That is precisely what we are arguing before the Supreme Court in Gavin Grimm's case now. Get mad but don't overstate what this does. Channel your energy into the fight before SCOTUS. Our rights depend on that.