Betsy DeVos Quietly Changes Education Dept’s Official Policy on Discrimination Against Transgender Students

Change Made Secretly With No Public Statement or Opportunity for Public Comment

The U.S. Dept. of Education has now formalized its policy on complaints from transgender students barred from restrooms that correspond with their gender identity: reject them. 

Betsy DeVos‘ Dept. of Education “has told BuzzFeed News it won’t investigate or take action on any complaints filed by transgender students who are banned from restrooms that match their gender identity,” Dominic Holden of Buzzfeed News reports. “It’s the first time officials have asserted this position as a formal interpretation of law. No public announcement has been made.”

Education Dept. spokesperson Liz Hill told Buzzfeed, “yes, that’s what the law says,” when Buzzfeed asked if it is the department’s position that complaints on restroom use from transgender students are not covered by federal civil rights law, specifically Title IX.

“Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, not gender identity,” Hill added.

Federal courts have ruled otherwise, stating that discrimination against transgender students is sex discrimination and thus covered under the 1972 federal law.

“Until now, the official position of the Department has been that Title IX protects all students and that they were evaluating how that protection applies to the issue of bathroom access,” Obama-era Education Department head of the Office for Civil Rights, Catherine Lhamon, told BuzzFeed News via email. “This new categorical bar of civil rights protection for transgender children required to attend schools every day ignores the text of the law, courts’ interpretation of the law, the stated position of the Department to date, and human decency.”

One of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ first acts was to rescind the Obama-era guidance helping public schools protect the civil rights of transgender students. Days later she called the guidance “a very huge example of Obama administration overreach.”

DeVos then went on to ignore the racism and segregation that led to the establishment of America’s historically Black colleges and universities, calling HBCUs “real pioneers when it comes to school choice.”

Last May DeVos suggested she did not oppose anti-LGBT discrimination, noting “school choice” resolves the issue by giving parents and students options to go to schools that don’t discriminate. Weeks later she told the U.S. Senate she would not work to prevent or prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ students.

In June DeVos’ Civil Rights Office closed cases from transgender students, and scaled back investigations into anti-transgender discrimination. 

Four months later DeVos quietly eliminated 72 documents on civil rights protections for students with disabilities. Also in October DeVos scrapped an Obama-era rule set to go into effect that would protect minority students from being placed disproportionally in classes for students with special needs.

Image by U.S. Dept. of Education via Flickr and a CC license