LGBTQ groups plead with Sessions and DeVos to keep Title IX protections in place
Groups urge Trump administration to keep guidelines ensuring equal treatment for trans students in place
Four national LGBTQ organizations have sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos pleading with the two Trump administration appointees to keep in place federal guidance that allows transgender students to be treated equally according to their gender identity.
The letter, signed by the directors of National Center for Transgender Equality, GLSEN, the National Women’s Law Center, and the Human Rights Campaign, asks Sessions and DeVos to preserve guidance with respect to Title IX as it applies to LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming students. The guidance, issued last year by the Justice and Education Departments, sets out guidelines for schools on how best to meet the needs of transgender and gender-nonconforming students and has become the target of several lawsuits.
“The Departments’ guidance documents help educational institutions understand and comply with the law. Under Title IX, all forms of gender-based discrimination are prohibited unless specifically exempted by statute,” the letter reads. “This includes sexual violence, sexual harassment, and bullying and harassment based on gender. It also includes discrimination against the hundreds of thousands of students who were assigned one gender at birth but who live and attend school as another.”
The LGBTQ groups noted that the guidance documents for schools were based on “years of careful research to accurately reflect a substantial body of case law and proven best practices from schools across the country.” They say that the guidance documents have been instrumental in providing schools with detailed blueprints of how to navigate any conflicts regarding transgender rights that educators may have to face.
“Recent studies confirm that transgender students across the country are as healthy and thriving as their siblings and peers when they are supported by the adults around them, but their health and academic success suffers severely when they are bullied or singled out at school,” the groups write.”Unfortunately, nearly two-thirds (64.5%) of transgender students report harassment at school. Guidance from the Departments has helped schools, colleges, and universities prevent these harms, and has now been widely and successfully implemented. …
“A withdrawal of this critical guidance would represent a major retreat from these commitments,” the LGBTQ groups conclude. “We urge you to ensure that your Departments continue to support and protect all students.”
The Justice Department is being watched closely after this past weekend, when it withdrew a motion asking for a partial stay of a nationwide injunction that a federal judge in Texas issued to prevent the federal government from forcing individual school districts to comply with the trans guidelines. That move is largely being interpreted as a signal that the Trump administration is backing away from supporting Title IX protections for transgender students.
While conservatives have decried the guidance as an example of executive overreach by the Obama administration, the issue of whether Title IX’s protections against discrimination apply to transgender students may not be debated for much longer. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on that question in the case of Gloucester County School Board v. G.G., in which Virginia transgender teen is suing to be allowed to use the boys’ restroom at his school, later this spring.
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