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Restroom Access for Transgender Students

May 12, 2016

I am writing to update you on recent legal developments related to restroom access for transgender students. Please accept this memorandum as an update and supplement to the Best Practices for Schools Regarding Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students that was issued by my office on March 15, 2016.

On April 19, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in the case of G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board that a school district policy banning G.G. (a transgender high school student that identifies as male) from the boys’ restroom violated Title IX (of the Education Amendments of 1972).

The ruling of the Court in the G.G. case deferred to the Title IX implementation guidance of the U.S. Department of Education (US ED), Office of Civil Rights (OCR). 

Read the full memo