Why Did Laverne Cox Tell Everyone to Search #StandWithGavin?

Before introducing Lady Gaga and Metallica at the Grammy Awards Sunday night, Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox told attendees and home viewers: “Everyone, please Google ‘Gavin Grimm.’ He’s going to the Supreme Court in March. #StandWithGavin.”

And who is Grimm? The 17-year-old boy became one of the most prominent faces for the rights of transgender students in America after he sued his local school board in Gloucester County, Va., in 2015. Gavin had come out to his friends as transgender after middle school and to his parents after his freshman year of high school. During the beginning of his sophomore year, he began to reintroduce himself to his peers and teachers using male pronouns and his new chosen name. And he also, with the full OK of the principal, began using the school’s male restrooms.

As members of the community learned of Gavin — and his innocuous use of the bathroom that corresponds to his gender identity while at school — the county school board decided to formally take up the issue, ultimately voting that students must use the bathroom that corresponds to their “biological gender.” Grimm then sued the Gloucester School Board for violating his civil rights.

After a lower court ruled in Grimm’s favor, the school board appealed. Last spring, Grimm’s case, filed on his behalf by the national American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia, reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District. The court ruled that, according to the Obama administration’s position that transgender students are protected from discrimination based on their gender identity under Title IX, Grimm should be able to use the restroom that aligns with his gender identity.

The school board appealed again — and now the Supreme Court is hearing the case in March.

During their campaign for the White House, now-Vice President Mike Pence promised that a Trump administration would ensure that the Obama administration’s stance on transgender student rights under Title IX would be overturned. That’s not surprising considering that, while governor of Indiana, Pence came out in favor of laws that ban transgender Americans from using bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity. More recently, Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice chose not to contest a judge’s injunction barring Texas students from using the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity, thus not adhering to the guidelines on the topic issued by the Obama administration.

Read More:

Would You Let This Girl Use the Men’s Bathroom?

Transgender Women Rule the Beauty World

Laverne Cox Shines Bright as Lady Liberty on the Cover of Entertainment Weekly

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.