A federal judge has sided with a female-born high school student who sued a school district in Virginia for not allowing him to use the boys' restroom.
U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen denied the request of the Gloucester County School Board to dismiss the legal challenge filed in 2015 by high school student Gavin Grimm.
According to CBN News, Grimm took legal action against the school board after it issued a policy that required students to use bathrooms that are consistent with their biological gender.
Allen reportedly stated that the school board had engaged in "sex stereotyping" by not allowing the student to use the bathroom of his choice.
The judge had ordered both parties in the case to enter into a settlement phase, Christian News Network reported.
Allen further argued that the school board could have implemented a policy that was "non-discriminatory and more effective" instead of prohibiting Grimm from using the boys' bathroom.
"The board's argument that the policy did not discriminate against any one class of students is resoundingly unpersuasive," Allen said, according to Christian News Network.
"The policy classified ... Grimm differently on the basis of [his] transgender status and, accordingly, subjected [him] to sex stereotyping. The Equal Protection Clause protects Mr. Grimm from impermissible sex stereotypes—just as Title IX does, for the reasons articulated previously—and the court need only find that the board's policy demonstrated sex stereotyping under the Equal Protection Clause," she continued.
Grimm, who was represented in court by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia, said that he felt an "incredible sense of relief" following Allen's ruling.
"After fighting this policy since I was 15 years old, I finally have a court decision saying that what the Gloucester County School Board did to me was wrong and it is against the law," the student said, as reported by CBN News.
Christian News Network reported that the school board had voted to approve a policy prohibiting students from using the bathroom of their choice after some parents complained about allowing Grimm to use the boys' bathroom.
The policy prompted Grimm to sue the board with the help of the ACLU. A district court judge had ruled in favor of Grimm, but the ruling was overturned by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, but it had been remanded back to the Fourth Circuit in February 2017 after the Trump administration rescinded an Obama-era policy that prohibited sex discrimination in public schools. The Fourth Circuit then remanded the case back to the district courts to determine whether the case was moot as Grimm had already left the school.
Despite the dismissal of the case, the school board said that it believes that it had "fully considered the interests of students and parents" in addressing the issue.
