Trumps Administration lifts Transgender Bathroom guidance

Trumps Administration lifts Transgender Bathroom guidance 

The Trump administration has lifted federal guidelines that said transgender students should be allowed to use public school bathrooms and locker rooms matching their chosen gender identity. The Wednesday decision is a reversal of an Obama-era directive issued in May. It will now be up to states and school districts to interpret whether federal sex discrimination law applies to gender identity. A letter sent to schools nationwide Wednesday by the Justice and Education departments says the earlier directive caused confusion and lawsuits over how it should be applied. The new letter says the guidance is lifted, but anti-bullying safeguards will not be affected. Although the Obama guidance was not legally binding, transgender rights advocates say it was necessary to protect students from discrimination. Opponents argued it was federal overreach.

Since when does the United States make your civil rights subject to your zip code?

Eliza Byard, executive director of GLSEN, a group advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students

Obama's Education Department undertook the guidance in response to queries from school districts around the country about how to accommodate transgender students in gender-segregated bathrooms. The Obama Justice and Education departments then issued the guidance last May, threatening to withhold federal funding if schools forced transgender students to use bathrooms against their will. Reversing the Obama guidelines stands to inflame passions in the latest conflict between believers in traditional values and the socially progressive. Its issuance was delayed by a disagreement between two members of Trump's Cabinet, with Attorney General Jeff Sessions pushing for a repeal of the Obama guidance and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resisting, according to numerous sources. White House spokesman Sean Spicer, however, denied any division, saying, DeVos was in "100 percent" agreement.