REPORT: Trump to Rescind Obama Guidance Directing Public Schools to Protect Transgender Students

Trump Had Pledged to ‘Protect’ the LGBT Community ‘From Violence and Oppression’

President Donald Trump has begun his attacks on the LGBT community, and he is starting with the most vulnerable: children. Trump himself has given the go-ahead for a joint “Dear Colleague” letter to be sent to public schools nationwide that would rescind the Obama administration’s 2016 guidance on how to protect transgender students, which included allowing them to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity. The Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson first reported the news Monday evening.

Saying she is both “angry” and “outraged,” National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling told the Washington Blade “reliable sources” told her of Trump’s plan.

Trump’s Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, and his Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, as early as Tuesday could act to rescind the transgender protections.

“This is the first day of the president’s second month in office and he is now fully coming after LGBT people,” Keisling told The Blade. “This is about kids who just want to go to school who just want to be themselves, and to hear the president a week or two ago talk about how supportive he is of LGBT people, it’s just outrageous that he go after trans kids this way.”

The Trump administration has already signaled to a federal court its plan to step away from the policy. Earlier this month Trump’s Justice Dept. withdrew a motion made by the Obama administration appealing an injunction handed down by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Just weeks ago, amid outrage over reports Trump would rescind Obama’s 2014 executive orders that ban anti-LGBT discrimination by federal contractors, the White House announced, “President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community.” That statement boasted Trump in his nomination speech had pledged “to protect the community from violence and oppression.”

Rescinding the protections guidance or trans students would be in direct conflict with that pledge.

Reportedly, Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, acted to convince the president to not rescind the Obama workplace protections. 

The Blade notes that should the Trump administration rescind the transgender guidance, “advocates have insisted students are still able to sue on their own under Title IX if they feel they’ve experienced discrimination as a result of their gender identity.”

“It doesn’t take away trans kids’ rights,” Keisling told The Blade. “It’s Title IX that protects us, not Donald Trump or Attorney General Sessions agreeing with us on Title IX.”

UPDATE: White House: Trump Says Transgender Students’ Rights Are a ‘States Rights Issue’ (Video)

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