Betsy DeVos – Photo: Keith A. Almli, via Wikimedia.
A national LGBTQ think tank is questioning whether newly confirmed Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos will continue to protect transgender students.
The Williams Institute at UCLA, which specializes in LGBTQ polling and policy, asked if DeVos will ensure more than 350,000 transgender youth and young adults attending public educational institutions will be protected from discrimination in education.
They outlined several major concerns for LGBTQ students under a DeVos-led Department of Education.
Of chief concern is DeVos’ stance on guidance issued by the Obama administration’s Department of Education last year that sought to have transgender students treated according to their gender identities.
That guidance was based on an interpretation by the Department’s Office of Civil Rights which found that transgender students are protected from discrimination based on sex under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. But DeVos has not said whether she will continue to keep that policy in place.
The Supreme Court is slated to hear arguments on March 28 in the case of Gloucester County School Board v. G.G., where transgender student Gavin Grimm is seeking to be permitted to use the boys’ restroom at Gloucester High School.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that Title IX does, in fact, require schools to guarantee equal access to transgender students, including their ability to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identities.
According to the Williams Institute, there are approximately 150,000 transgender youth aged 13-17 and 206,000 young adults enrolled in various educational institutions. Research has shown that those students experience higher rates of being targeted for bullying or harassment at the hands of their fellow students.
Based on results from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, 77 percent of transgender people who were “out” or perceived as gender-nonconforming in school said they had been bullied or harassed, with 1 in 6 saying they were forced to leave school because of how they were mistreated.
The Williams Institute also cited statistics showing that 60 percent of transgender students responding to the 2015 National School Climate Survey had been required to use a restroom or locker room designated for their biological sex at birth.
In a Washington, D.C. survey, 70 percent of transgender respondents were denied access to facilities that correspond to their gender identity. Subsequently, 54 percent also reported physical problems stemming from their avoidance of public bathrooms, including dehydration, urinary tract infections, kidney infections, and other kidney-related problems.
“Educational attainment is a significant determinant of economic status and health across the life course,” the Williams Institute writes. “But discrimination, harassment, and victimization impairs many transgender students’ access to education, and is associated with lower educational attainment, reduced economic prospects, increased risk of homelessness, and other negative outcomes.
“Despite these findings, research shows that creating a supportive environment that treats transgender people consistent with their gender identity can ameliorate these negative outcomes,” the Institute concludes in what could be considered a message directed at DeVos. “Transgender people who are accepted and supported at home and in their community report lower rates of negative outcomes, including lower rates of mental distress, homelessness, and suicide.”
DeVos previously came under fire during her confirmation hearings, particularly for her alleged ties to anti-LGBTQ groups.
The American Federation of Teachers, which opposed her confirmation, said DeVos and her husband, Dick, a failed gubernatorial candidate in Michigan, donated $100,000 to the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, a group that opposes same-sex marriage.
Several LGBTQ groups noted that DeVos was listed as a board member of her mother’s family foundation, which donated to Focus on the Family, a group that opposes the expansion of LGBTQ rights and advocates for conversion therapy.
Under questioning from Democrats on the committee, DeVos said she has “never” supported conversion therapy, and denied she was a board member at the time the donation was made. She said that tax documents listing her as a board member for nine years were a “clerical error.”
Lio Cundiff was sitting on a bench near Chicago's Belmont Harbor on February 18, talking on the phone with his aunt, when he looked up to see a woman screaming and chasing a baby stroller rolling toward the water after being carried off by the wind.
The National Weather Service had warned of sustained winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour, with gusts reaching 50. The force of the wind sent the stroller -- carrying an 8-month-old girl -- into the lake.
While the baby’s mother stood in shock, Cundiff, a 31-year-old Chicago transgender man and server at the local restaurant Oak and Honey, jumped into the lake and swam to the stroller, despite not knowing how to swim. He fought to keep the infant from slipping beneath the surface.
A Massachusetts-based LGBTQ advocacy group is warning of a reported surge of anti-LGBTQ harassment in local high school sports, particularly hockey teams.
In a March 3 open letter to Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, the group, Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston (LCR), warned that identity-based bullying of LGBTQ youth remains a problem on some high school sports teams. The letter says the behavior is exacerbated by "team hierarchies, locker room culture, and competitive dynamics."
LCR said reports of bullying and harassment targeting youth who are gay or perceived to be gay have spiked within school hockey programs, which the group believes may be connected to the popularity of Heated Rivalry, an HBO series about a romance between two closeted gay athletes.
About 9% of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than heterosexual, according to new polling from Gallup.
That figure is unchanged from 2024 -- but remains higher than the 7% who identified as LGBTQ between 2021 and 2023. The findings are based on combined data from more than 13,000 telephone interviews conducted nationwide in 2025.
Overall, 86% of adults identified as heterosexual, 9% as LGBTQ, and 5% declined to answer questions about sexual orientation or gender identity.
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