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Local School Districts Receive Federal Guidance On Transgender Students

The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice released a joint letter of guidance Friday to public schools nationwide urging inclusion of transgender students, most notably transgender bathrooms.

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The move comes as the Obama administration and North Carolina battle in federal court over a state law passed in March that limits public bathroom access for transgender people.

The Obama administration will issue guidance Friday instructing schools across the nation that they must provide transgender students access to facilities – including bathrooms and locker rooms – that match their chosen gender identity.

In a “dear colleague” letter to school districts first reported by the New York Times, the Department of Education maintains that requiring transgender students to use same-sex facilities violates Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibits discrimination based on sex.

“Even after the Supreme Court’s landmark gay marriage decision past year in Obergefell v. Hodges that guaranteed all people ‘equal dignity in the eyes of the law, ‘ we see new efforts to deny LGBTI individuals the respect they deserve and the protection our laws guarantee”, she said.

It does not impose any new legal requirements, but federal officials say it’s mean to clarify school districts’ obligations to educate students in nondiscriminatory environments.

“The South Carolina Department of Education and school districts throughout the state are dedicated to ensuring a safe and respectful climate for all students”, South Carolina Department of Education Molly Spearman said to News19 in a statement Friday when asked for reaction. The subject of where transgender students may change has divided some of the student body at Fremd High School.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch – a North Carolina native – called the law discriminatory.

“We dealt with the issue in the fall and we’ve been following the policy”, said Troy City Schools Superintendent Eric Herman. Although the letter is not legally binding, it makes clear that if schools fail to follow these guidelines, they could lose federal funding.

The LGBT community in the United States hailed the directives from the Obama administration, considering the decision “a truly significant moment not only for transgender young people but for all young people”. The rallying cry was against what Mississippi’s Republican governor said was the federal government’s “forcing a liberal agenda on states that roundly reject it”.

Under the guidance, schools must “take prompt and effective steps” to end, prevent and remedy sex-based harassment based on a student’s actual or perceived gender identity, transgender status or gender transition.

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The district said students feeling uncomfortable with same-sex bathrooms or seeking more privacy could also use private bathroom alternatives, regardless of the underlying reason.

Carlos Barria  Reuters