function onPlayerReadyVidible(e){'undefined'!=typeof HPTrack&&HPTrack.Vid.Vidible_track(e)}!function(e,i){if(e.vdb_Player){if('object'==typeof commercial_video){var a='',o='m.fwsitesection='+commercial_video.site_and_category;if(a+=o,commercial_video['package']){var c='&m.fwkeyvalues=sponsorship%3D'+commercial_video['package'];a+=c}e.setAttribute('vdb_params',a)}i(e.vdb_Player)}else{var t=arguments.callee;setTimeout(function(){t(e,i)},0)}}(document.getElementById('vidible_1'),onPlayerReadyVidible); From shoutouts at awards shows to White House protests to multiple media appearances, Gavin Grimm has turned into a leading activist in the cause for greater rights for transgender students in the United States.And he hasnt even graduated high school yet.But graduation day is fast approaching, and Grimms legal battle which at its core is about his rights as a trans studentwill remain stuck in the court system well past the moment he gets his diploma.On Wednesday, his legal team and that of the Gloucester County School Boardproposed a new schedulethat will likely push the resolution of the case well into the fall.Perhaps anticipating that delay, the same appeals court that last year gave his case a big boostalso recognized Grimm for his persistence through it all. And it did so with language that was at once stark and inspirational.Grimm takes his place among other modern-day human rights leaders who strive to ensure that, one day, equality will prevail, and that the core dignity of every one of our brothers and sisters is respected by lawmakers and others who wield power over their lives, wrote in a court order last week U.S. Senior Circuit Judge Andre Davis, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.Last month, the Supreme Court sent Grimms case back to the Richmond-based courtfor a do-over a direct response to the Trump administrations rollback of Obama-era guidancedirecting schools on how to accommodate trans students. Relying on that guidance, Grimm sued his school district for barring him from using the restroom that all other boys use, which his lawyers contend is a form of sex discrimination.With the federal guidance no longer in the booksand Grimms case prolongedwell after he graduates in June the 4th Circuit had no option but to go back to square one and reconsider the case. But before the case moved any further, Davis and another judge in the 4th Circuitgave Grimm a tribute of sorts likening his struggle to that of some of the greatest civil rights plaintiffs in American history.Our country has a long and ignominious history of discriminating against our most vulnerable and powerless, wrote Davis. We have an equally long history, however, of brave individualsDred Scott, Fred Korematsu, Linda Brown, Mildred and Richard Loving, Edie Windsor, and Jim Obergefell, to name just a fewwho refused to accept quietly the injustices that were perpetuated against them.His case is part of a larger movement that is redefining and broadening the scope of civil and human rights Davis added: It is unsurprising, of course, that the burden of confronting and remedying injustice falls on the shoulders of the oppressed. These individuals looked to the federal courts to vindicate their claims to human dignity, but as the names listed above make clear, the judiciarys response has been decidedly mixed.Grimms lawyers were moved by Davis words, which, among other flourishes, also quotes Martin Luther King, reprints a poem by Palestinian-American poet Naomi Shihab Nye, and links to Grimms own testimony before school authorities pleading for equal treatmentjust as the rest of the student body receives.To Davis, whose opinion is worth reading in full, Grimms case is not just about a high school teen wanting to use a bathroom that aligns with his gender identity.Its about a boy asking his school to treat him just like any other boy, he wrote. Its about protecting the rights of transgender people in public spaces and not forcing them to exist on the margins. Its about governmental validation of the existence and experiences of transgender people, as well as the simple recognition of their humanity.Davis went on: His case is part of a larger movement that is redefining and broadening the scope of civil and human rights so that they extend to a vulnerable group that has traditionally been unrecognized, unrepresented, and unprotected.Theres no telling what will happen next in Grimms case and others like it advancing in the courts. But Davis observations reflect that at least some members of the judiciary believe that the struggle for transgender rights is no different from other struggles past.David Cole, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Grimm, wrote in a column in the New York Review of Books that what Davis did in the court order is not exactly what judges do.Poetry and judicial opinions do not often mix, Cole wrote. Judging is ordinarily a prosaic task: weighing arguments, applying tests of legal doctrine, finding facts, stating conclusions, declaring winners and losers, announcing law. This is not the stuff of poetry. But every once in a while, poetry is called for. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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