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VA School District Keeps Transgender Bathroom Ban

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GLOUCESTER, Va. (AP) - A school board in Virginia says it won't take any immediate action to overturn its transgender bathroom ban after some community members spoke in favor of keeping it.

The board's announcement Thursday comes two days after it met some resistance at a public forum over changing the policy. A policy was proposed to allow transgender high school students to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

The Gloucester County School Board has considered ending the ban as a federal trial over the policy looms. Former student Gavin Grimm has been suing the district for discrimination since 2015 because the transgender teen was banned from using boys bathrooms.

The community appeared starkly divided at Tuesday's forum. Some people spoke in favor of ending the ban, but many support it.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.