InterACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth Files First-Ever Brief Raising Intersex Youth Voices to the United States Supreme Court

In 2015 the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia sued the Gloucester County School Board for adopting a discriminatory bathroom policy that segregates transgender students from their peers. The case was filed on behalf of Gavin Grimm, a male student at Gloucester High School who is transgender. After originally using the men’s restroom for seven weeks without incident, Gavin’s school board passed a new policy prohibiting him from using the boys’ restroom. In April 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in Gavin’s favor, agreeing with the U.S. Department of Education that Title IX protects the rights of transgender students to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity. In October, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to review the decision. Oral arguments are set for March 28, 2017.

interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth, the nation’s only organization dedicated exclusively to advancing the legal and human rights of youth born with intersex traits, joins with the ACLU in support of Gavin and transgender students everywhere by filing an amicus brief on his behalf to the Supreme Court. In this brief, interACT explains why transphobic bathroom policies hurt not only transgender students but those born with intersex traits as well. Several intersex young people offer their first-person experiences in support of Gavin, and detail why policies like the Gloucester County School Board’s must be rejected. This is believed to be the first-ever Supreme Court brief to address the lived reality of those born with intersex traits, and interACT is proud to have ensured that the central focus of the brief is the voices of intersex young people.

This effort was a collaboration between interACT and the New York City based law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, LLP. interACT is deeply grateful for the tremendous skill of the Patterson Belknap team and their generous support of this underserved community.