The Trump administration has rescinded rules and protections concerning bathrooms for transgender students, according to recent reports. One person tied to Trump in current events has come out to condemn the measure.
The control over these laws will go to the states
President Donald Trump had rescinded the protections this Wednesday, which would allow transgender students to use bathrooms that reflect their gender identity, rather than biological gender. The action had reportedly overruled that of his own education secretary. Presumably, the action will establish that the deciding power in these bathroom cases will go the states.
The original federal law that had been rescinded is known as Title IX, which is also known as the “Bathroom Bill,” and was publicized in May 2016 under the Obama administration. Title IX had originally been developed under the influence of federal laws that forbid gender discrimination within schools.
Scott Horsley of NPR said in a released statement that schools risked punishment for defying the recommendation, which could include the loss of federal funds.
Various voices among the young against the measure
A prominent figure within the bathroom debate is Gavin Grimm, a transgender high school student of southern Virginia. After coming out as a freshman, the school’s principal allowed Grimm to use the boy’s bathroom in school, but local parents had complained over the gesture, causing the school to enforce a policy that students were either obliged to use the bathroom that corresponded to their biological sex or to use a presumably unisex “single-stall restroom office.” Grimm sued the school board, and is now set to give oral arguments before the Supreme Court this upcoming March.
One notable figure who has spoken out against the measure is Jackie Evancho, who made headlines singing for President Trump during his Inauguration. Evancho has an older transgender sister, Juliet, and posted on social media that she was “obviously disappointed” in the measure, and added the hashtag #sisterlove. In a later post, she also begged the President to give her and Juliet the “honor” to speak with him to discuss the issue of gender rights, just as he previously gave her the “honor” to sing for him at the Inauguration.
