A federal judge ruled Friday that a Virginia school district’s policy barring a male transgender student from using the boys’ bathrooms violates the United States Constitution, an important victory for transgender rights advocates in a closely watched case.

In a 28-page ruling, Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen of the United States District Court in Norfolk, Va., said that the school district’s policy violated the rights of Gavin Grimm, a former student.

“There is no question that the board’s policy discriminates against transgender students on the basis of their gender nonconformity,” Judge Wright Allen wrote. “Transgender students are singled out, subjected to discriminatory treatment, and excluded from spaces where similarly situated students are permitted to go.”

School bathroom policies vary, sometimes district by district, across the country. Many in recent years have faced contentious legal challenges over which bathrooms transgender students should be allowed to use. Mr. Grimm’s lawsuit against Gloucester County Public Schools in Virginia is among the best known.

Judge Wright Allen’s ruling echoes those in several other courts that have recently ruled in favor of allowing transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding to the gender they identify with. Yet nationwide, the question is far from resolved. Read more via New York Times