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On February 22, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice withdrew their previous joint guidance that provided information for schools on the departments’ interpretation of the rights of and protections for transgender students under Title IX. Noting that the “interpretation has given rise to significant litigation regarding school restrooms and locker rooms,” the Departments said “there must be due regard…

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal from a Virginia school board seeking to prevent a high school student from using the boys' bathroom. In April, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit gave deference to the federal government's position that Title IX, the federal law prohibiting discrimination "on the basis of sex" in public schools, protects the rights of transgender students to use school bathrooms that align with their gender identity. The court ordered the…

Earlier this week, a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Texas, issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education from taking action to enforce their guidance letter on the rights of transgender students under Title IX.  For a summary of the federal guidance, please see our…

Last Friday, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice released joint guidance on their interpretation of the rights of and protections for transgender students under Title IX.

The guidance document, which comes in the form of a Dear Colleague Letter, does not add requirements to existing law, but adds another voice to an ongoing conversation about whether Title IX’…

The Fourth Circuit court of appeals recently ruled in G.G. v. Gloucester Cty. School Bd., that courts must give deference to the U.S. Department of Education’s recent guidance that public schools must treat a transgender student in conformity with the student’s gender identity.  

The case involved a transgender male student in Virginia named Gavin Grimm, whose birth-assigned sex was female, but who identifies as male. In 2014, Gavin’s school district adopted a policy that required students…