Appeals court will not reconsider ruling backing trans Virginia teen's restroom choice

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday denied a motion to reconsider its ruling that gave a Virginia transgender high school student access to the bathroom of his gender identity.

The Gloucester County School Board had asked the full U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to review the decision by a three-judge panel last month in favor of Gavin Grimm, a student at the local high school.

The request was denied since none of court's 15 judges asked for a vote on the rehearing, the court said. The case has been seen as impacting the national bathroom wars between gay rights activists and social conservatives.

Grimm had filed suit after being barred from using the boys’ bathroom at his school. Grimm was born a female but identifies as a male.

“Now that the Fourth Circuit’s decision is final, I hope my school board will finally do the right thing and let me go back to using the boys’ restroom again,” Grimm said in a statement.

The April ruling sent the widely watched case back to a lower court to re-evaluate Grimm's request for a court order. The ruling was the first by an appeals court finding protections for transgender students under the 1972 Title IX Act, which bars sex-based discrimination by schools receiving federal funding.

President Barack Obama's administration filed a brief in support of Grimm.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)