Dear Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III: F#@k You. Sincerely, Your Employees

Every day, there are federal employees — career bureaucrats who have dedicated long or short parts of their lives to jobs in which they serve the government and its people — who are resisting the Trump administration from their desks (so to speak, and sometimes literally). We don't hear about many of these acts of resistance against the dismantling of the federal government and its services, but sometimes we do, and, when we do, it's pretty fucking great.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to rescind Obama-era guidance supporting the rights of transgender students is set to get a symbolic rebuke from Sessions' own employees next week.

On the morning of June 28, the Justice Department is scheduled to hold its annual LGBT Pride Month Program in the Great Hall of the department's main building on Pennsylvania Avenue, in between the Capitol and the White House.

A notice about the program, obtained by BuzzFeed News, went out to employees on Tuesday. At the event, which was attended by former attorney general Loretta Lynch in 2016, the relevant work of the department is highlighted, a keynote speech is given, and awards are presented.

This year, DOJ Pride — the department's group for LGBT employees and their allies — plans to present Gavin Grimm with its Gerald B. Roemer Community Service Award at the event, BuzzFeed News has learned.

Gavin Grimm, as you may recall, is the Virginia teenager who has spent the last several years of his life locked in a lawsuit against his school system after he was denied access to the boys' restroom because he is transgender.

Grimm's case had gone all the way to the Supreme Court, where it "would have been heard earlier this year — had it not been for Sessions' decision to rescind the pro-transgender guidance. The justices had taken up the case in the fall, but sent it back to the appeals court for further consideration after Sessions and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rescinded guidance issued by the Obama administration — delaying Grimm's challenge past his high school graduation date, June 10."

So, Sessions' maneuvering (in part) served to deny justice to Grimm.

And the Justice Department will soon give Grimm the Gerald B. Roemer Community Service Award at its LGBT Pride Month Program.

Which isn't justice. But it's a very strong message to the head of the Justice Department, about what his employees think about his priorities.

Congratulations (in advance) to Gavin Grimm. Well deserved, young man. ♥

[H/T to Eastsidekate.]