Dozens of big businesses back trans student in Supreme Court bathroom case
Dozens of companies have signed up to back a transgender teenager who is taking his case to use the bathroom matching his gender identity to the Supreme Court.
A coalition of 53 companies on Thursday wrote an amicus brief to the Supreme Court supporting the Virginia student.
Included in the brief are Yahoo Inc, Intel Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Twitter Inc.
Thursday was the deadline for briefs to be filed with the court, and oral arguments will be heard on 28 March.
Grimm has alleged that the Gloucester County School Board in Virginia violated the federal Title IX when it stopped him from using the men’s bathroom.
A ruling is expected by the end of June in the case.
“Gender identity discrimination is a form of sex discrimination,” the brief reads, according to Newsweek.
The ACLU, which is representing Grimm, posted a letter on twitter that was written to Mat Staver, chairman of the Liberty Counsel at the weekend.
The letter, from the Supreme Court, instructs the Christian law firm to refer to Grimm as male.
“It has come to the attention of this office that the cover of your amicus brief in this case identifies the respondent as ‘G.G., by her Next Friend and Mother, Deirdre Grimm.’ In fact , the caption for the case in this Court, as in the lower courts, identifies the respondent as ‘G.G., by his Next Friend and Mother, Deirdre Grimm.
“Please ensure careful compliance with this requirement in this and other cases in the future,” the letter concludes.
Grimm claimed this infringed on the rights of trans people and after a long court battle, it is not set to be heard by the Supreme Court.
The lawsuit has become high profile in America, with celebrities such a Laverne Cox calling for people to become educated on the case.
Trump’s administration has just revoked trans bathroom protections, bringing even more weight to the case.
