Trump inauguration star Jackie Evancho “disappointed” with trans policy reversal
The singer, whose sister Juliet is suing her school district for discrimination, has asked for a meeting with Pres. Trump
Jackie Evancho, the classical singer who performed the national anthem at President Trump’s inauguration, is calling out the president for his decision to reverse guidance from the Obama administration that encouraged schools to allow transgender students to use facilities matching their gender identity.
According to White House spokesman Sean Spicer, Trump believes that decisions about transgender students’ access to bathrooms are a “state’s rights issue” that are best left up to state legislatures or local school boards, rather than the federal government.
Evancho, who rose to fame in 2010 after being selected as the runner-up on “America’s Got Talent,” is the sister of 18-year old Juliet Evancho, one of three transgender students suing suburban Pittsburgh’s Pine-Richland School District for discrimination. Under a longstanding policy that had pre-dated the Obama guidance, transgender students were allowed to use the bathrooms that matched their gender identity. But the school board caved to political pressure and instituted a new policy that reversed that policy.
Jackie Evancho took to Twitter Wendesday night to express her disapproval of the Trump administration’s actions, tweeting: “I am obviously disappointed in the @POTUS decision to send the #transgender bathroom issue to the states to decide.#sisterlove.”
I am obviously disappointed in the @POTUS decision to send the #transgender bathroom issue to the states to decide. #sisterlove
— jackie evancho (@jackieevancho) February 22, 2017
In a follow-up tweet, she asked Trump for a face-to-face meeting with her and her sister to discuss the issue.
. @realDonaldTrump u gave me the honor 2 sing at your inauguration. Pls give me & my sis the honor 2 meet with u 2 talk #transgender rghts ❤
— jackie evancho (@jackieevancho) February 23, 2017
The decision by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as head of the Justice Department, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, as head of the Education Department, to issue a “Dear Colleague” letter withdrawing the trans-inclusive guidance, has been criticized by many celebrities, including Caitlyn Jenner, who called the move a “disaster,” Ellen DeGeneres, Ellen Page, Lance Bass, Ariana Grande, Kathy Griffin, and Katy Perry, most of whom expressed their disapproval via Twitter.
On Thursday morning, the Evancho sisters appeared on the TODAY show and Good Morning, America to further explain their disappointment with Trump’s latest policy, and reiterating their call for an in-person meeting with him.
“I guess I just want to enlighten him on what my sister, I’ve seen her go through every single day in school and people just like her, what they deal with,” Jackie said of Trump during the GMA interview. “The discrimination, it’s terrible.”
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