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Gloucester County School Board v. G.G.

Description:  The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia sued the Gloucester County School Board in Virginia over its policy that protects students’ privacy and safety by reserving restrooms and locker rooms for members of the same biological sex, while providing an alternative private facility for students uncomfortable using a facility that corresponds with their sex. The ACLU asserted inaccurately that the school board violated Title IX, a federal law, and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause when the district declined to allow a female student to use the boys’ restrooms. Title IX specifically authorizes schools to have single-sex restrooms and locker rooms.


Lockers in a school hallway
Monday, Mar 6, 2017
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Kerri Kupec regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Monday to send the student privacy case Gloucester County School Board v. G.G. back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit for reconsideration in light of the Trump administration’s reversal of an Obama administration directive that disregarded the privacy, safety, and dignity of all students:

“The first duty of school districts is to protect the bodily privacy rights of all of the students who attend their schools and to respect the rights of parents who understandably don’t want their children exposed in intimate changing areas like locker rooms and showers. President Trump, Attorney General Sessions, and Education Secretary DeVos rightly rescinded the faulty directive that the Departments of Education and Justice had issued during the Obama administration. It only makes sense for the Supreme Court to vacate the 4th Circuit’s earlier decision and instruct it to reconsider this case. The 4th Circuit should affirm the plain meaning of Title IX, which protects boys’ and girls’ privacy in locker rooms, showers, and restrooms. School officials should be free to protect their students’ privacy, safety, and dignity without federal government interference.”

ADF filed friend-of-the-court briefs with the Supreme Court and the 4th Circuit in support of the student privacy policy of the Gloucester County Public Schools.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.
 
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