WASHINGTON _ The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether schools nationwide may force transgender students to use restrooms that match the gender on their birth certificates.
The high court's first case to address transgender rights, stemming from a dispute from Virginia involving a transgender boy, will be heard early next year, either by the current eight-member court or with a new ninth justice chosen at the behest of the winner of the presidential election.
The justices agreed to hear an appeal from the Gloucester School Board, which had adopted a rule requiring students to use the restrooms that correspond to their "biological genders."
Gavin Grimm, a transgender boy, sued the school district, alleging that this policy amounted to illegal sex discrimination. He received the support of the U.S. Education Department and won a 2-1 ruling from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
The justices will decide whether to uphold the Education Department's policy guidance or instead rule that the agency had no authority to set rules for how schools should treat their transgender students.
