Grimm will have graduated long before the court rules and the case ends. But the suit he filed could expand permanently the rights of transgender students and people nationwide.

For Grimm, though, the lawsuit and the national publicity it has brought him has made the final year in high school difficult.

His social life is built around a core group of friends, but outside that group other students sometimes are cold toward him. They whisper behind his back and make him feel like an outsider, Grimm said.

A couple of times this year, he has sat down at a lunch table only to have someone already there stand up and leave.

While some of this may seem like normal high school behavior, Grimm said it only has reinforced feelings he’s long had that he’s an outsider.

It’s uncomfortable and unpleasant, he said, but something he can live with.

This is the third school year “that I’ve been dealing with this kind of climate at school,” he said. “While it does not get easier and it does not get more pleasant, you learn the skills to navigate the field.”

Given all he has been through, he’s seems like a well-adjusted kid.