Supreme Court gets transgender bathroom issue

The Trump administration has withdrawn federal guidelines on which school bathrooms transgender students can use, saying such policies should be devised at the state and local levels.

We’ve got no problem with that — at least the local part. After all, the Fort Worth school district has already been through this discussion and ended up with a policy that is sensitive to student needs and has broad support.

But Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is still pushing for a state policy saying transgender students may only use school restrooms that correspond with their “biological sex.”

It could be that neither policy will prevail.

In a little over a month, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on a Virginia case in which transgender high school senior Gavin Grimm has been told by his school that he can’t use the boys’ restroom, which he prefers, because he was born a girl.

The prior ruling in the case, from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, was in Grimm’s favor. The Supreme Court has stayed that ruling pending the planned March 28 oral arguments and a high court ruling.

Much as Patrick and some others would like to say that individual states should decide this issue, that’s faulty reasoning.

How could it be that individual rights might vary state-by-state across the U.S.?

The Supreme Court is the right place for a decision.

This story was originally published February 23, 2017 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Supreme Court gets transgender bathroom issue."