Gavin Grimm to Get Laughable Amount of Money in $1.3M Legal Payout

Author: Alex Cooper

The Gloucester County School Board has agreed to pay $1.3 million in legal fees after barring trans student Gavin Grimm, now 22, from using the boys’ restroom while he was in high school. The money will go toward covering the years Grimm has spent suing the school board over its ban on allowing trans students to use the restroom that fits their gender identity.

Much of the money will go to the American Civil Liberties Union after the civil rights nonprofit spent years representing Grimm, reported NPR.

The agreement comes two months after the Supreme Court decided to not hear Grimm’s case. That allowed a lower court decision in favor of Grimm to stand.

Both the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the Gloucester County School Board in Virginia, where then-high schooler Gavin Grimm was a student, violated Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment by prohibiting Grimm from using the same facilities as the other boys at his school. The school made Grimm use other restrooms.

Grimm’s case made it to the Supreme Court before in 2017, but the judges chose not to hear the case after the Trump administration withdrew the federal government’s support of Grimm’s case.

His attorney, Josh Block of the ACLU, said that Grimm “has been fully vindicated,” reported The Washington Post.

“It should not have taken over six years of expensive ligation to get to this point,” Block said.

Of the money the school board agreed to pay, Grimm said on Twitter he will receive $1 for nominal damages.

“Being a millionaire would solve like 99.9 out of 100 of my problems, but unfortunately that is not how these things work!” Grimm said after several reports indicated that he was getting the settlement funds.

Original Article on The Advocate
Author: Alex Cooper