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bathroom law

The Supreme Court did something pretty extraordinary on Oct. 28, 2016.

It announced that next year, the justices will hear a likely game-changing case for transgender rights in the United States.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.


Usually the justices are hesitant to hear cases on hot-button topics with large ramifications, as Reuters noted — especially now that the court is short its tie-breaking ninth justice.

But not this time.

In 2017, the court will decide whether senior Gavin Grimm will be able to use the bathroom that matches his gender identity at his high school in rural Virginia.

Grimm was assigned female at birth. But in 2014, when he was beginning high school as a freshman, he came out as transgender to his family. He began undergoing hormone treatments and changed his name.

Since Grimm is a guy, he naturally wanted to use the boys' restroom. It caused an uproar.

Grimm's principal allowed him to use the bathroom that matched his identity. The school district, however, wasn't thrilled. It mandated that students in Gloucester County use restrooms that correspond to the sex they were assigned at birth, NBS News reported.

As for trans students like Grimm? They would need to use single-occupant bathroom facilities.

"I continue to suffer daily because of the school board’s decision to make my bathroom use a matter of public debate," Grimm wrote in The Washington Post.

Grimm, arguing the new rule left him feeling isolated and stigmatized, sued. The Fourth U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Virginia agreed with him, too — the school district's mandate violated Title IX, a measure that prohibits discrimination by sex in any school receiving federal funding, the court argued.  

Photo by Lior Mizrahi /Getty Images.

It was a landmark decision, raising the bar for protections of transgender students.

The Supreme Court justices put the lower court's ruling on hold in August to decide whether to take up the case themselves — which leaves us where we are today.

The court's decision in 2017 could have a lasting impact on these discriminatory "bathroom bills" that have crept up across the country, most notably in North Carolina.

With approval from Gov. Pat McCrory, the Tar Heel State passed HB2 earlier this year — a measure that strips away many LGBTQ protections and forces all North Carolinians to use the bathroom that matches the sex they were assigned at birth in government buildings.

Gov. Pat McCrory. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

It's been called the most anti-LGBTQ state law in America; it's reallynot all that popular with Americans; and — aside from being morally reprehensible — it's terrible for business, too.

Just this week, the state lost out on a $250 million business development when a real estate firm decided to go elsewhere — and take its job openings, too — according to Business Insider. HB2 played a major role in the firm's decision.

Grimm's case is causing a wave of hope among transgender activists and allies who want to make sure all American students can feel safe at school — and not stigmatized — regardless of how they identify.

"Now that I am visible, I want to use my position to help the country see transgender people like me as real people just living our lives," wrote Grimm. "We are not perverse. We are not broken. We are not sick. We are not freaks."

"I hope the justices of the Supreme Court can see me and the rest of the transgender community for who we are — just people," Grimm wrote. "And rule accordingly."

Donald Trump has a pretty long track record of saying awful, bigoted things about large groups of people.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.


First, it was Mexican immigrants, who he labeled "drug dealers" and "rapists."

Latino activists protest Donald Trump. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

Then, it was Muslims, who he declared should be banned from entering the United States.

Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images.

So when "The Today Show" asked him about North Carolina's "bathroom law" that forces trans people to use the restroom that corresponds to the sex listed on their birth certificate, I braced myself for the worst.

The anticipated aftermath of Trump's answer. Photo by Steve Bunk/USDA.

Then he said this:

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.

"North Carolina did something that was very strong, and they're paying a big price, and there's a lot of problems. And I heard — one of the best answers I heard — was from a commentator yesterday, saying, 'Leave it the way it is. Right now. There have been very few problems. Leave it the way it is.' North Carolina, what they're going through, with all the business that's leaving and all of the strife — and it's on both sides — you leave it the way it is. There have been very few complaints, the way it is. People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate. There has been so little trouble."

Matt Lauer proceeded to ask him if he would be OK with Caitlyn Jenner using "any bathroom she chooses" at Trump Tower.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

"That is correct," Trump said.

It certainly seems like — and I can't believe I'm about to say this — Trump is ... right?

Protestors outside a Donald Trump rally in North Carolina. Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images.

North Carolina's law is indeed pretty irremediably bad to say the least. A devastating Daily Beast report found that calls to a local suicide hotline for trans teenagers doubled after the law's passage. Businesses across the U.S. have pretty much universally condemned it, and some have even pulled jobs out of the state.

Just this week, the U.K. issued a travel warning, cautioning its LGBT citizens about visiting North Carolina and Mississippi, which passed a similar law on April 5.

But let's ... not be too hasty about giving Trump too much credit here.

His odd focus on why the law is bad for business, rather than — you know — people, is a pretty cop-out-y (though certainly on-brand) reason to oppose it.

He also went on to say that he saw no need to create new gender-neutral bathrooms.

And of course, one moment of relative humanity doesn't come close to negating all of the other terrible, destructive things he's said over the course of his campaign (take your pick).

However, his comments should put those who defend the law on notice.

Because if even this guy...

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

...a guy who has spent the last nine-or-so months spewing nonsense on policy while unleashing a steady stream of bigotry against pretty much everyone under the sun is opposed to it — and not even for a particularly good reason, but a reason nonetheless — then it really is an indefensibly terrible, no good, horrible, very bad law.

And it's time for North Carolina's HB2 to go.

UPDATE — 4/22/16: A few hours after his appearance on "Today," Trump told Sean Hannity that, while maintaining that he doesn't agree with the law, he believes that North Carolina had the right to pass it.