NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A federal judge in Virginia has sided with a transgender teen who claims a school board's bathroom policies discriminated against him. 
 
 U.S. District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen on Tuesday declined the Gloucester County School Board's request to dismiss the case. The judge in Norfolk ordered lawyers for the school board and former student Gavin Grimm to schedule a settlement conference. 
 
 Grimm identifies as male but was barred from using the boys restrooms in high school before graduating in 2017. Grimm sued in 2015, claiming the policy violated his constitutional rights as well as federal protections against sex discrimination. 
 
 He took the case to an appeals court before it was sent back to a lower court last year. In September, the school board argued that the case should be dismissed. ||||| (CNN) A federal court ruled against a Virginia school district on Tuesday, holding that federal law protects a transgender student who sought to use the boys' bathroom at his school. 
 
 The ruling is a victory for Gavin Grimm -- a transgender male -- who began his legal fight four years ago and has since graduated from the school. The court denied a motion filed by the school district to dismiss Grimm's lawsuit. 
 
 Grimm's lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union argued that Title IX -- a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs -- includes discrimination based on gender identity. 
 
 "After full consideration of the facts presented and the compelling scope of relevant legal analyses, the Court concludes that Mr. Grimm has sufficiently pled a Title IX claim of sex discrimination under a gender stereotyping theory," wrote Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen, of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. 
 
 A federal appeals court based in Chicago issued a similar ruling in a different challenge in May 2017. 
 
 Read More ||||| RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia school board can block a transgender male from using the boys restroom when school starts next month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. 
 
 In a 5-3 decision, the high court put on hold a lower court ruling that ordered the Gloucester County School Board to let Gavin Grimm use the bathroom that matches his gender identity. The school board is expected to ask the justices to further intervene in the case later this month. 
 
 The decision means Grimm will be barred from using the boys bathroom for at least the first half of his senior year, said Josh Block, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who's representing Grimm. 
 
 The school board says it plans to formally ask the Supreme Court to review 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Grimm's case by the end of August and then it will be months before the justices decide whether to do so. 
 
 Block said he's disappointed the teen will have to begin another school year being "stigmatized and isolated from the rest of his peers just because he is transgender." But he said he remains hopeful that Grimm will ultimately prevail in the case. 
 
 Grimm, who was born female but identifies as male, was allowed to use the boys restroom at his high school for several weeks in 2014. But after some parents complained, the school board adopted a policy requiring students to use either the restroom that corresponds with their biological gender or a private, single-stall restroom. Grimm argues the policy violates Title IX, a federal law that bars sex discrimination in schools. 
 
 The school board counters that allowing Grimm use the boys restroom raises privacy concerns and may cause some parents to pull their children out of school. An attorney for the board didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. 
 
 If the justices agree to hear Grimm's case, the order will remain on hold until the court makes a final ruling, the court's ruling said. If they deny the school board's petition for review, the order requiring the board to let Grimm use the boys bathroom will be reinstated. 
 
 The appeals court sided with Grimm in April, saying the federal judge who previously dismissed Grimm's Title IX discrimination claim ignored a U.S. Department of Education rule that transgender students in public schools must be allowed to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity. 
 
 The appeals court reinstated Grimm's Title IX claim and sent it back to the district court for further consideration. But the high court's decision Wednesday puts Grimm's case on hold until the justices decide whether to intervene. 
 
 Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented. Justice Stephen Breyer said he agreed to put the case on hold to "preserve the status quo" until the court decides whether to weigh in. 
 
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 Follow Alanna Durkin Richer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/aedurkinricher. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/alanna-durkin-richer.
– A federal judge in Virginia has sided with a transgender teen who claims a school board's bathroom policies discriminated against him, the AP reports. US District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen on Tuesday declined the Gloucester County School Board's request to dismiss the case. Allen found that federal law protects the student, CNN reports. "After full consideration of the facts presented and the compelling scope of relevant legal analyses, the Court concludes that Mr. Grimm has sufficiently pled a Title IX claim of sex discrimination under a gender stereotyping theory," Allen wrote, ordering lawyers for the school board and former student Gavin Grimm to schedule a settlement conference. Grimm identifies as male but was barred from using the boys restrooms in high school before graduating in 2017. Grimm sued in 2015, claiming the policy violated his constitutional rights as well as federal protections against sex discrimination. The Supreme Court last year declined to hear the case and sent it back to a lower court. In September, the school board argued that the case should be dismissed. "I feel an incredible sense of relief," Grimm said in a statement Tuesday. "After fighting this policy since I was 15 years old, I finally have a court decision saying that what the Gloucester County School Board did to me was wrong and it was against the law. I was determined not to give up because I didn't want any other student to have to suffer the same experience that I had to go through."