Gavin Grimm, the pioneer of Trans-railway Gavin Grimm, now faces homelessness and mental disabilities
Gavin Grimm, the now-25-year-old trans man who made headlines for suing his Virginia school district over its transphobic bathroom policies, is struggling with mental health challenges, poverty and looming homelessness, according to The Guardian
Grimm sued the district after the Gloucester County School Board voted to ban him as a 15-year-old from using the boys’ bathrooms, even though he had already been doing so for months without incident. After years of litigation, he eventually won a landmark federal decision asserting the constitutional right to protection against educational discrimination.
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But even though the school district ended up settling Grimm’s case for $1.3 million in legal fees and other legal costs, the settlement didn’t provide him with stable housing or financial security. He only received $1 as a symbolic share of the settlement.
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To settle for personal damages, Grimm would have had to have given the school district’s lawyers access to medical records showing the impacts of the school’s discrimination on his health. He didn’t want to fight another battle after years of court battles. He hasn’t received any invitations to paid appearances, as the LGBTQ+ community has moved its focus to other areas. “I represent an outer layer of privilege that most people won’t see and I can’t make ends meet, no matter how much I try,” he said to The Guardian. He is among the 8% trans adults who went unsheltered in the past year
Grimm suffers from post-traumatic disorder, stress-induced seizure and autism that affects his sensory perception. He spent four days in May 2021 in a coma following a grand-mal seizure that severely impaired his ability work or drive. The PTSD is a result of not feeling safe, not being understood, not being accepted, and adults not taking responsibility for him. I was hyper-analyzed and picked apart in high school. I was tortured, harassed and bullied.”
While he receives some financial support from disability payments, his mother, and an ongoing GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign, he recently moved out of his apartment in Newport News, Virginia.
His mother has begun caring for his 19-year-old cat Rascal, but Grimm has begun couch-surfing with friends, occasionally staying with his mother, and spending some nights at a local dog park. He avoids houseless shelters, fearful of discrimination.
He volunteers some days with a climate justice group and spends time hanging in the garage of Evan Hamilton, a 66-year-old fellow trans man and “autistic stoner” who he met through a local queer group. Grimm wishes to eventually return to college to become a teacher.
Grimm said he’s voting Democrat in the upcoming election as a form of “harm reduction,” but he has been discouraged at the wav of anti-trans legislation that has swept the nation in the years since his case made headlines.
Virginia’s Department of Education under Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin tried to enforce policies that forced districts to enforce names, pronouns and bathrooms that aligned with the sex assigned to students at birth. Some state districts have refused but the policies and the hostile atmosphere they create still threaten the estimated 4,000 transgender students in Virginia.
Grimm said he’s disillusioned with mainstream liberal politicians who have so far not taken bold action against the Republican Party’s onslaught of transphobic culture warring.
“This system is built specifically to ensure the status quo continues, that people like me are disenfranchised, underrepresented and never have full equality under the law,” Grimm says. “But I knew that what I did was significant.” “If I keep my cat alive, I’m happy,” he said. “I’m prepared to face homelessness, but I just don’t want her to face it.”
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