In a two-page guidance letter to schools sent Tuesday, the Trump administration is ending Obama-era protections of transgender students from discrimination “on the basis of sex.”
The Obama adminstration's protections, released May 2016, directed schools to allow transgender students to use the restroom that aligns with their gender identity instead of the gender on their birth certificate, in addition to protections of other transgender rights. The penalty for not following this Title IX directive was the loss of federal funds.
The letter defends the roll back on protections by stating the directive did not go through “any formal public process” and has had significant litigation. According to the document, "the departments believe that, in this context, there must be due regard for the primary role of the states and local school districts in establishing educational policy.”
The Trump administration's defense of its move to end this order reads as double-think, as Trump’s “travel ban” order also faced significant litigation and didn’t undergo formal public process. Nevertheless, the administration is planning to release another similar executive order on the policy in the coming days.
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