Who Is Gavin Grimm, Transgender Teen Who Got Shout-Out From Laverne Cox At Grammys?

Laverne Cox, star of Orange is the New Black as well as the transgender community, made a shout out to teenager Gavin Grimm during her speech at the 2017 Grammys.

WHO IS GAVIN GRIMM?

Grimm, 17, is a transgender male from Virginia whose lawsuit against his school is currently heading up to the Supreme Court. He is suing for the right to use the boys’ bathroom, and this will be the first time a case on transgender rights will make it all the way to the highest court in the country.

Cox gave him a shout out, not only because of the controversial bathroom bill, but because his case is about much more. “What people should know about these bathroom bills that criminalize trans people — like criminalize me using the women’s room — is that these are not about bathrooms; they’re about whether trans people have the right to exist in public space,” Cox told CBS This Morning. “If we can’t access public bathrooms, we can’t go to school, we can’t work, we can’t go to health care facilities. This is about public accommodations and… public accommodations are always key to civil rights.”

Grimm, having transitioned starting in 2014, wrote an op ed for the Washington Post about his experiences as a transgender teen. “I feel the humiliation every time I need to use the restroom and every minute I try to “hold it” in the hopes of avoiding the long walk to the nurse’s office. And the humiliation can come when I least expect it…

“I did not choose to announce to the news media that I am transgender. My school board made that decision for me,” he continued. “But now that I am visible, I want to use my position to help the country see transgender people like me as real people just living our lives. We are not perverse. We are not broken. We are not sick. We are not freaks. We cannot change who we are. Our gender identities are as innate as anyone else’s. I hope the justices of the Supreme Court can see me and the rest of the transgender community for who we are — just people — and rule accordingly.”