Trump alters transgender freedom in schools
It’s news that would come off as shocking to many Americans if Donald Trump wasn’t the president.
But the public has noticed President Trump change President Barak Obama’s policies before. This time, the controversial leader has rescinded transgender guidelines set forth by Obama.
In May 2016 Obama told public schools that their transgender students will have the option to chose whichever bathroom is acceptable to their identity.
President Trump, though, sees a school’s willingness to accept this principle as falling under state and local governments’ rights.
It started with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos debating with Attorney General Jeff Sessions regarding this issue.
Sessions, an opposer of LGBT rights in the past, echoed the sentiment of those opposing Obama’s federal authority on social issues.
“Our fight over the bathroom directive has always been about former President Obama’s attempt to bypass Congress and rewrite the laws to fit his political agenda for radical social change,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, via Reuters.
Two court cases were set to review Obama’s order.
On the other hand, DeVos believed undoing the directive was too threatening to the well-being of young children dealing with their sexuality.
Although Trump sided with Sessions, DeVos continued to make her opinion clear.
“This is not merely a federal mandate, but a moral obligation no individual, school, district or state can abdicate,” she said in a statement released on Wednesday. “At my direction, the Department’s Office for Civil Rights remains committed to investigating all claims of discrimination, bullying and harassment against those who are most vulnerable in our schools.”
On Wednesday, hundreds gathered in front of the White House to rally against Trump’s action.
“This is a mean-spirited attack on hundreds of thousands of students who simply want to be their true selves and be treated with dignity while attending school,” Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in a statement, per CNN.
