Obama Administration Issues Letter For U.S. Public Schools to Allow Transgender Students To Go To The Bathroom, Conservatives Outraged
In the midst of what has become a great debate and labelled “The Bathroom Battle” the issue regarding the transgender community and which bathroom they can use has now garnered input from the United States’ president. Barack Obama issued a transgender bathroom decree, informing all public school districts in the country that transgender students should be allowed to use the bathroom which matches their gender identity.
Today, the Obama Administration is set to send out a letter to school districts that makes it very clear where they stand in the middle of the legal fight that the administration has entered with North Carolina, whose schoolboard will now allow pepper sprays in bathrooms to “fight Trans intruders,” over the issue of transgender students and bathrooms. The letter is signed by the officials from both the Justice Department and the Department of Education and will outline what these public schools should do in order to protect their students and ensure that none of them are discriminated against. The fact that the letter will go out to all public schools, means elementary to college aged students will be affected by the ruling.
Thursday evening, the Secretary of Education, John B. King Jr. reaffirmed the president’s beliefs that transgender students were owed protections that the numerous bathroom bills circling state politics otherwise sought to take away. The letter also addressed issues beyond which bathroom transgender students should be allowed to use and delves into guidelines for locker rooms, practices of athletic teams, and even yearbook photos.
“A school may not discipline students or exclude them from participating in activities for appearing or behaving in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity or that doesn’t not conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity (e.g.yearbook photographs, at school dances, or at graduation ceremonies.”
While the letter is a directive, and as such will not carry the force of law, Fox News has stated that it warns schools which do not comply with “the administration’s interpretation of civil rights law” could possible face lawsuits or even lose federal aid.
A section of the letter which many believe the “bathroom warriors” are sure to overlook in their zealous defense of the bathroom space is that there are conditions to its enforcement, name the formal consent if they are minor and only needs to accommodate them if, “a child’s parent or legal guardian asserts a gender identity for the student that ‘differs from previous representations or records.'”
Obama’s transgender bathroom decree has already drawn criticism from around the country, particularly from Republicans, who mainly focus on the belief that the federal government is participating in state affairs and forcing its values on local communities, even if they do not agree with it. It has become obvious that the bathroom decree is only the latest representation of the Obama administration attempting to assist in the civil rights battle for equality, which the LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender) community is fighting. A combination of policies, lawsuits and public statements has been the main battle strategy that the administration has employed.
Bravo @POTUS! Obama administration to schools: Let transgender students go to the bathroom https://t.co/BGbfj7XXDK
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) May 13, 2016
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has already spoken with reporters on Friday, and stated that Texas “will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States.”
“This goes against the values of so many people. This has everything to do with keeping the federal government out of local issues.”
The Chicago Tribune wrote a scathing piece regarding Obama’s bathroom directive and how the ill-informed will be the most vocal opposition. In it, the writer anticipates the backlash and argument that boys will try to claim they are transgender students in an effort to gain access to girls, and they do so by reminding them of the existence of the Internet, especially with the guidelines that the bill has in place.
“Those already unlikely scenarios become pure fiction with the caveat that a parent must confirm a student has come out as transgender. If you think a high school boy would ever jump through that many hoops to get into a girls bathroom, perhaps you should hop on the Internet and Google ‘boobs.'”
Despite the resistance that the directive is sure to face, the Obama administration has made it clear that they intend to fight for the rights of all citizens, including the entire LGBT community.
“As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others’ discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students. A school must not treat a transgender student different from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity.”
[Photo by Sara Dtt. Davis/Getty Images]
