Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a charity focused on getting equal rights for all LGBT+ people, has written a letter to President Trump protesting the lack of action taken by the Justice Department on Title IX.
Title IX provides “significant guidance” to school districts in the USA advising schools to allow their students to use gender-segregated facilities (eg bathrooms, locker rooms) that align with their identified gender – ie a trans girl would use the girls’ bathroom.
In August 2016, a temporary hold on this guidance letter was placed by a judge. Recent developments, with new Attorney General Jeff Sessions taking office, have meant that the Justice Department will not appeal this hold.
It basically means that schools can choose whether to let trans students go to bathrooms that identify with their gender, or with their biological sex.
The letter from HRC calls this “a concrete step to undermine equality for the LGBTQ [sic] community”. It continues to say that although a lot of progress has been made, there is still unfortunately mistreatment of trans students by schools.
The letter concludes:
“Like all parents, all we want is for our children to be healthy, safe, and loved. No young person should wake up in the morning fearful of the school day ahead. When this guidance was issued last year, it provided our families — and other families like our own across the country — with the knowledge and security that our government was determined to protect our children from bullying and discrimination. Please do not take that away from us. We ask you to preserve the guidance and instruct the Departments of Justice and Education to robustly pursue every opportunity to enforce Title IX on behalf of transgender students.”
Almost 800 parents of trans children, all over the USA, signed the letter.
