Education, health, civil rights, business, and faith leaders support transgender students
Today the National Center for Transgender Equality joined hundreds of organizations, experts, and individual students and family members in filing friend-of-the-court briefs supporting transgender high school student Gavin Grimm in the landmark case Gloucester County School Board v. G.G.
“We are proud to stand with Gavin and with over 350,000 young transgender people like him who only want to be treated with equal dignity and respect,” said NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling. “Experience shows that simple fairness for these young people costs us nothing, and we are all greater when no one is singled out or excluded because of who they are. As most courts have found, Title IX protects students from this kind of gender-based discrimination.”
Among those filing briefs today in support of Gavin Grimm are:
- the American Academy of Pediatrics and other health professionals;
- the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Association of School Psychologists, and other leading education groups;
- the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and other leading civil rights advocates;
- the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence and other leading sexual assault and domestic violence advocates;
- school districts and administrators from 31 states that have fully included transgender students for years;
- a diverse group of faith leaders and organizations;
- leading businesses;
- leaders of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives, and other law enforcement officials;
- 196 members of Congress;
- and numerous transgender students and families members of transgender youth sharing their personal stories of discrimination at school.
The brief submitted by NCTE and other transgender advocates explains why there is no conflict between equality and privacy for all students, pointing to the wealth of experience showing that transgender people across the country use the same restrooms as others of the same gender, without incident. Over 20 million K-12 students already attend schools that have clear policies or state guidelines that fully include transgender students. The Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected the idea that vague and unproven concerns about privacy can justify discrimination against a group of people such as transgender students.
