The Supreme Court last week rebuked
three anti-LGBT groups for misgendering Gavin Grimm, the transgender
teen at the center of the transgender bathroom access debate.
Grimm is the Gloucester High School
senior who is challenging his school district's policy that prohibits
transgender students such as himself from using the bathroom of their
choice. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in the case
on March 28.
Three briefs in the case filed in
support of the school district – one filed by Liberty Counsel and
two filed by the National Organization for Marriage together with the
Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence – incorrectly used a female
pronoun to refer to Grimm in their front page captions, altering
“his” to “her.”
Liberty Counsel confirmed that it had
not made a mistake.
“Gavin Grimm is a biological girl who
now says she subjectively 'identifies' as a 'boy,'” the group told
Slate.
In letters to the groups from the
Office of the Clerk, the court informed the groups that they had
violated Rule 34 of the Rules of the Supreme Court, which requires
that each brief “shall bear on its cover … the caption of the
case as appropriate in this Court.”
“Please ensure careful compliance
with this requirement in this and other cases in the future,” Clerk
Scott S. Harris wrote.
Slate
noted that these groups were “so eager to deny Grimm this basic
dignity that they intentionally flouted the rules of the Supreme
Court of the United States. It is difficult to imagine a justice
citing anything these groups' briefs say – even those who vote
against Grimm.”