The law requires people to use the restroom corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate.
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The Department of Education recently sent a letter to every public school district, providing guidance on the rights of transgender students.
“There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex”, U.S. attorney general Loretta Lynch said in a statement.
“I haven’t reviewed that letter, but I don’t think any decision that comes from the federal government dictating what each school must do is probably a good idea”.
Columbus City Schools spokeswoman Jacqueline Bryant said the district has been “progressive” in response to the issue, adding that several years ago “gender identity or expression” to its nondiscrimination policy. Harassment that targets a student based on gender identity, transgender status, or gender transition is harassment based on sex, and the Departments enforce Title IX accordingly.
On Friday, the Obama administration issued a directive for schools regarding transgender students’ access to bathrooms and locker rooms, one of the most direct signals yet of its stance that gender identity is a civil rights issue.
San Luis Coastal has transgender students at the elementary, middle and high school levels, Robinett said. North Carolina responded by suing the Justice Department in federal court.
Stand for Fort Worth, a group of about 50 people including some students, called Superintendent Kent Schribner’s new guidelines unsafe and argued they give students full rights to use the bathroom or locker room of the opposite sex with no medical or mental health diagnosis.
If schools don’t comply, they risk losing crucial federal funding.
Officials will also be distributing a list of “emerging practices” that advise faculties on using a student’s preferred pronoun, inadvertent disclosures of a student’s status as transgender, etc. “The Departments have resolved Title IX investigations with agreements committing that school staff and contractors will use pronouns and names consistent with a transgender student’s gender identity”.
“All of our students deserve safe and supportive places where they can learn, thrive and succeed”, said MDE Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius. “And I think you’re going to see good Americans that are concerned about this stand up and begin to resist at the local and state level”.
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said today his state will join North Carolina in the fight against the federal government.
