President Trump’s Administration Rescinds past President Obama Rule On Transgender Students’ Bathroom Use.. Well, what does that all mean? Past President Obama Rule that students would be allowed to use bathrooms based on whatever gender they stated themselves to be [at least that’s my understanding], but not based on what their birth certificates say the gender. President Trump’s administration said, “No, they had to use bathrooms based on their biological gender birth certificate. It’s a problem. President Trump on Wednesday rescinded protections for transgender students that had allowed them to use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity. In a joint letter, the top civil rights officials from the Justice Department and the Education Department rejected the Obama administration’s position that nondiscrimination laws require schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice. Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos resisted signing off [CreditDoug Mills/The N.Y. Times]. She later consented. That directive was improperly and arbitrarily devised, “without due regard for the primary role of the states and local school districts in establishing educational policy.” Secretary DeVos said she had directed the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights to investigate all claims of such treatment “against those who are most vulnerable in our schools,” but also argued that bathroom access was not a federal matter. Gay rights supporters made their displeasure clear by protesting the decision.
Individual schools will remain free to let transgender students use the bathrooms with which they are most comfortable. And the effect of the administration’s decision will not be immediate because a federal court had already issued a nationwide injunction barring enforcement of the Obama order.
Betsy DeVos had directed the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights to investigate all claims of such treatment but also argued that bathroom access was not a federal matter.
“The federal government has absolutely no right to strip parents and local schools of their rights to provide a safe learning environment for children,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
Despite his personal views, Mr. Trump’s decisions in office have been consistently conservative on social issues. Those who want to object may contact their Legislators, as it has become more or a States rights issue.
Sources: Eric Lichtblau and Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting.
Get politics and Washington news updates via Facebook, Twitter and in the Morning Briefing newsletter. A version of this article appears in print on February 23, 2017, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Rescinds Obama Directive on Bathroom Use. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
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