A school in Virginia can block a transgender male from using the boys' toilets when school starts next month, the US Supreme Court ruled.
In a 5-3 decision, the court put on hold a lower court ruling that ordered the Gloucester County school board in Virginia to let Gavin Grimm use the toilet that matches his gender identity.
The court’s order has no effect on any other case. The move came amid a national debate over transgender rights. A North Carolina law that requires transgender people to use toilets in government buildings that correspond with the gender listed on their birth certificates has drawn protests, boycotts and lawsuits.
A directive from the Obama administration threatening schools with the loss of federal money for discrimination based on gender identity has been challenged in court by more than 20 states.
For a time, school administrators allowed Mr Grimm to use the boys’ toilet, but the local school board adopted a policy that required students to use the toilet and locker rooms for their “corresponding biological genders.”
The school board is expected to ask the justices to further intervene in the case later this month.
The decision means the teenager will be barred from using the boys’ toilets for at least the first half of his senior year, said Josh Block, an lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who is representing him.
“The school board welcomes the Supreme Court’s decision as the new school year approaches,” the Gloucester County school board said.
“The board continues to believe that its resolution of this complex matter fully considered the interests of all students and parents.”
Mr Block said he is disappointed the teen will have to begin another school year being “stigmatised and isolated from the rest of his peers just because he is transgender”.
Agencies