The New York Times broke the story this evening that President Obama plans to issue a guidance directive allowing trans students to use facilities matching the gender they identify as in all public schools across the nation.
Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Mark Apuzzo at NYT:
WASHINGTON — In the middle of a legal fight with North Carolina over transgender rights, the Obama administration is planning to issue a sweeping decree telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.
The letter to school districts that will go out Friday describing what they should do to ensure that none of their students are discriminated against, signed by officials of the Justice Department and Department of Education, does not have the force of law. But it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.
The move is certain to draw fresh criticism, particularly from Republicans, that the federal government is wading into local matters and imposing its own values on communities across the country that may not agree. It represents the latest example of the Obama administration using a combination of policies, lawsuits and public statements to change the civil rights landscape for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people.
After supporting the rights of gay people to marry, allowing them to serve openly in the military and prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against them, the administration has made bathrooms its latest battleground.
The Obama administration will issue a decree Friday to all public school districts in the U.S. telling them to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity, according to the New York Times.
While the decree doesn't have the force of law, it does carry a threat: Schools that don’t comply could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.
It is signed by officials at the Justice Department and Department of Education.
Tomorrow, May 13, the U.S. Department of Education is set to release a historic letter to the nation's school districts confirming that discriminating against transgender students is illegal under Title IX.
This comprehensive letter is expected to explain that schools and colleges have to make sure that transgender students are treated according to their gender identity in every aspect of school life, including by having full and equal access to restrooms and other facilities that match their gender.
Schools that discriminate against trans students—including schools that exclude transgender students from restrooms consistent with their gender—are violating federal law, putting their federal funding at risk. The Department of Education's interpretation of Title IX overrides state laws like North Carolina's HB 2, which require schools to force transgender students into bathrooms that don't match their gender.
Dominic Holden at BuzzFeed News:
The rules apply to restrooms, locker rooms, sports teams, fraternities, sororities, housing, and more.
It isn’t the first time the Obama administration has asserted Title IX of the Education Act of 1972, which bans discrimination on the basis of sex, bans transgender discrimination as a form of sex discrimination.
However, the guidance issued Friday by the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice Justice is the strongest, most direct set of instructions to date that spells out the settings schools should implement those standards across the country.
The guidance is not legally binding, but it put reinforces the administration’s position that it will take legal action against violators.
Federal guidelines in education apply to public districts serving K-12 students, public universities, and other education facilities receiving federal money.
David Badash at The New Civil Rights Movement:
In a sweeping decree the Obama administration on Friday will instruct all public schools across the nation that transgender students must be allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity. The instruction will come as a letter signed by officials in the Dept. of Eduction and the Dept. of Justice.
The New York Times, first reporting the policy, notes the directive will not carry the full weight of law, but schools that discriminate against transgender students will face possible withholding of federal funds.
“A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so,” the letter will state, according to the Times.
Of course, the reactions to this news being announced is that the side of decency (the pro-LGBTQ side) will celebrate, while the side of bigotry (the anti-LGBTQ side) will be whining and storming a fit over this news.