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February 23, 2017

Trump Administration Rescinds Protections for Transgender Students
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The Trump administration has rescinded key protections for transgender
students in public schools. The move reverses President Obama's landmark
decision last May to order public schools to let transgender students
use the bathrooms matching their chosen gender identity. On Wednesday,
hundreds of protesters gathered outside the White House to call on Trump
to protect transgender students. Participants included Mara Keisling of
the National Center for Transgender Rights.

Mara Keisling: "The worst-case scenario is what is already happening.
Children all over the country are scared by this man. They are really
worried that they're going to go to school tomorrow, they're going to be
bullied. These are kids who have to go to school all the time worried
about being bullied by other kids, being bullied sometimes even by
educators. And now they have to worry about the attorney general of the
United States and the president of the United States bullying them? It's
just not OK."

According to press accounts, there was initially a fight over the issue
in the Oval Office between Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Education
Secretary Betsy De Vos. The New York Times reports De Vos initially
resisted signing off and told Trump that she was uncomfortable because
of the potential harm that rescinding the protections could cause
transgender students. The president sided with Sessions and pushed De
Vos to drop her opposition, which she did.


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