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Laverne Cox shouts out transgender teen Gavin Grimm at the Grammys

Posted at 6:51 PM, Feb 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-13 18:51:49-05

RICHMOND, Va. -- The Grammy Awards Sunday night featured a number of political statements, but one statement highlighted Gloucester County teen Gavin Grimm.

Grimm, 17, was born a female, but has the gender identity of a male.

Millions of Americans learned his name when actress and transgender activist Laverne Cox encouraged viewers to "Google Gavin Grimm."

“Everyone, please Google ‘Gavin Grimm,’ the Orange is the New Black actress said. “He’s going to the Supreme Court in March. #StandWithGavin.”

Grimm is at the center of a court case against the Gloucester County School Board to determine if students will be allowed to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

Gavin Grimm

Gavin Grimm

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the lawsuit between the school board and Grimm on March 28, 2017.

The teen sued the Gloucester County School Board in 2015 when his school stopped allowing him to use the boy’s restroom. The Gloucester County School Board enforced a policy that requires transgender students to use a separate restroom from their peers.

A lower court had ruled in favor of Grimm, but last summer the Supreme Court agreed to temporarily stay that ruling while it considered an appeal from the Gloucester County School Board.

The case marks the first time the Supreme Court has considered the controversial issue playing out across the country, most notably in North Carolina, where the Justice Department has filed a civil rights suit against the state’s so-called bathroom law.

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