Donald Trump Just Took Away Protections For Transgender Students
The Trump administration on Wednesday announced that they are removing Obama-era protections for transgender students.
The Department of Justice and the Department of Education issued guidance Wednesday that removes the Obama policies that required public schools to allow children to use bathrooms and facilities that correspond with their gender identity.
The Trump administration is attempting to claim that this is a state’s rights issue. However, the Obama Justice and Education departments asserted that in fact the issue is a Title IX right of all students.
The Trump administration said Wednesday that the Obama protection order “has given rise to significant litigation.” By saying that the Trump administration is suggesting that legal headaches outweigh the need for protections for children.
Politico has noted Wednesday, “The Obama administration believed the law bars discrimination based on gender identity, and it released a directive last May that told schools they must let transgender students use bathrooms and locker rooms in alignment with their gender identities, in addition to upholding other rights. Obama threatened schools, districts, colleges and universities with the loss of federal funds if they didn’t comply.”
A parent who worked with the Obama administration its directive giving protections to Transgender students reacted to the Trump decision saying, “After losing my son, I was compelled to help prevent this from happening to any other parent in any way possible.” Katharine Prescott said her son Kyler committed suicide after facing discrimination at school saying he was “victimized daily by teachers, administrators and peers who did not understand his gender identity.”
“I was gratified to work with the Obama administration to ensure that this life-saving guidance was issued to help schools do the right thing by transgender students,” she said. “I would welcome the chance to share my story with Secretary DeVos and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to help them understand the real-life implications of reversing the Title IX guidance for protecting transgender students.”
