President Trump revoked certain provisions that permitted transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity on Wednesday. These provisions were granted by the previous government under Obama. Back when the Obama administration introduced these provisions which allowed students claiming to be transgender use any bathroom they wanted to, many civil rights officials opposed the move. They argued that it might threaten the safety of women and young girls since 'men' would be permitted in their bathrooms.
The conflict between the Attorney General and the Education Secretary
Trump's Attorney General Jeff Sessions believes that since 2 cases filed on the former democratic government's decision are already in court, the court can uphold the decision Trump made. Reportedly, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos didn't want to sign the new policy initially, however, she agreed on it later. Betsy was uncomfortable with the decision because revoking the provisions might make things difficult for transgender students. Mr Sessions, who is known to oppose gay, lesbian and transgender rights somehow compelled Betsy to bow down. While that didn't happen at first, he made the President convince her for the same over a meeting.
Ms DeVos released a public statement on Wednesday night, saying that she considered it a “moral obligation” for all educational institutions to protect their students from any sort of discrimination.
The protests
Like most other orders given by the new President, this was met by protests as well. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the White House to protest the decision chanting “No hate, no fear, trans students are welcome here.” Individual schools in the U.S.
will get to decide for themselves whether to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice or not. Replying to the New York Times, Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council said that Trump had no right to strip schools of their rights to provide a safe learning environment for their children.
Adding to this, Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign said that it is not an issue about the states' rights, it's about basic civil rights. The dispute regarding transgender rights has split the Republican party even further. Within the party, many believe that people should move away from social issues towards more pressing concerns.
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