U.S. Directs Public Schools to Allow Transgender Access to Restrooms

[Odin]

Link

Quote:WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is planning to issue a sweeping directive telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.

A letter to school districts will go out Friday, adding to a highly charged debate over transgender rights in the middle of the administration’s legal fight with North Carolina over the issue. The declaration — signed by Justice and Education department officials — will describe what schools should do to ensure that none of their students are discriminated against.

It does not have the force of law, but it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

The move is certain to draw fresh criticism, particularly from Republicans, that the federal government is wading into local matters and imposing its own values on communities across the country that may not agree. It represents the latest example of the Obama administration using a combination of policies, lawsuits and public statements to change the civil rights landscape for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people.

After supporting the rights of gay people to marry, allowing them to serve openly in the military and prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against them, the administration is wading into the battle over bathrooms and siding with transgender people.

“No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus,” John B. King Jr., the secretary of the Department of Education, said in a statement. “We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence.”

Courts have not settled the question of whether the nation’s sex discrimination laws apply in matters of gender identity. But administration officials, emboldened by a federal appeals court ruling in Virginia last month, think they have the upper hand. This week, the Justice Department and North Carolina sued each other over a state law that restricts access to bathrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms. The letter to school districts had been in the works for months, Justice Department officials said.

“A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so,” according to the letter, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times.

A school’s obligation under federal law “to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of sex requires schools to provide transgender students equal access to educational programs and activities even in circumstances in which other students, parents, or community members raise objections or concerns,” the letter states. “As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others’ discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students.”

As soon as a child’s parent or legal guardian asserts a gender identity for the student that “differs from previous representations or records,” the letter says, the child is to be treated accordingly — without any requirement for a medical diagnosis or birth certificate to be produced. It says that schools may — but are not required to — provide other restroom and locker room options to students who seek “additional privacy” for whatever reason.

Attached to the letter, the Obama administration will include a 25-page document describing “emerging practices” that are in place in many schools around the country. Those included installing privacy curtains or allowing students to change in bathroom stalls.

In a blog post accompanying the letter, senior officials at the Justice and Education Departments said they issued it in response to a growing chorus of inquiries from educators, parents and students across the country, including from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, to clarify their obligations and “best practices” for the treatment of transgender students.

“Schools want to do right by all of their students and have looked to us to provide clarity on steps they can take to ensure that every student is comfortable at their school, is in an environment free of discrimination, and has an opportunity to thrive,” wrote Catherine E. Lhamon, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights, and Vanita Gupta, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Thomas Aberli, a high school principal in Louisville, Ky., said the new guidance would help administrators across the country who are trying to determine the best way to establish safe and inclusive schools. He said his school had little to work with when it drafted a policy that was put in place last year.

“What you don’t do is go and tell a kid, ‘You know, there is something so freakishly different about you that you make other people uncomfortable, so we’re going to make you do something different’,” said Mr. Aberli, who estimated that his school of 1,350 students had about six transgender children. “There’s been no incident since its implementation. It’s really just a nonissue in our school.”

The White House has called North Carolina’s law “meanspirited” and said this week that federal agencies were continuing a review of their policies on the treatment of transgender people while the administration waged its legal battle with the state.

President Obama condemned the law last month, saying it was partly the result of politics and “emotions” that people had on the issue.

“When it comes to respecting the equal rights of all people, regardless of sexual orientation, whether they’re transgender or gay or lesbian, although I respect their different viewpoints, I think it’s very important for us not to send signals that anybody is treated differently,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference in London.

The struggle over the rights of transgender people has reverberated on the presidential campaign trail and become a defining issue in the final year of Mr. Obama’s tenure, prompting boycotts of North Carolina by some celebrities and businesses that had planned to create jobs there. The fresh guidance to be issued Friday seemed certain to intensify that debate, and showed that Mr. Obama and his administration intend to press the issue of transgender rights aggressively as the legal challenge unfolds.

The Justice Department has for years made gay and transgender issues centerpieces of its civil rights agenda. Former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. described that campaign as a continuation of the civil rights era that brought equal rights to African-Americans. And this week, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch spoke passionately to transgender people as she cast the lawsuit against North Carolina in historic terms.

“We stand with you,” she said. “And we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. Please know that history is on your side.”

Some Republicans have defended North Carolina’s law by arguing that it would be inappropriate to allow transgender women to use the same bathroom as young girls. Before ending his presidential bid last week, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas charged that Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, and Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, “both agree that grown men should be allowed to use the little girls’ restroom.”

I don't know if this belongs here or in General Political Discussion, so feel free to move it if you need to, Dan!

[Kinser79]

Actually it isn't just that crowd. A large number of the G's, L's and B's want to kick the T's out of the acronym. The difference is that transseuxalism is not an orientation, rather it is a mental illness. It has to be since even after transitioning transexuals have suicide rates on par with Jews in Nazi Germany. Since I know for a fact that trannies aren't being rounded up and sent to Auschwitz that leaves only untreated mental illness (the #1 cause of suicide) to be cupable.

The simple fact of the matter is that gender is a biological construct and in order to protect all parties segregation in some areas on the basis of sex is necessary.

[Odin]

(05-13-2016, 07:01 PM)Kinser79 Wrote: Actually it isn't just that crowd.  A large number of the G's, L's and B's want to kick the T's out of the acronym.  The difference is that transseuxalism is not an orientation, rather it is a mental illness.  It has to be since even after transitioning transexuals have suicide rates on par with Jews in Nazi Germany.  Since I know for a fact that trannies aren't being rounded up and sent to Auschwitz that leaves only untreated mental illness (the #1 cause of suicide) to be cupable.

The simple fact of the matter is that gender is a biological construct and in order to protect all parties segregation in some areas on the basis of sex is necessary.

Gee, maybe because they are still treated like sub-human scum? If you and people like you were constantly accused of being pedophiles out to rape little girls in public restrooms you would be suicidal, too.

Also, people who think "non-standard" gender identities is nothing but modern liberal PC "decadence" forget that such people exist and are accepted in many traditional cultures. In some Native American societies they were called Two-Spirit people.

---

Oh, and I just ran into this:

Younger generations of British people don't see themselves as completely masculine or feminine - and 'masculinity' tends to be seen as a negative word by young men

Interesting chart:

[Kinser79]

(05-13-2016, 10:08 PM)Odin Wrote: Gee, maybe because they are still treated like sub-human scum? If you and people like you were constantly accused of being pedophiles out to rape little girls in public restrooms you would be suicidal, too.

I'm going to require sources to prove that this even happens, and further sources that indicate that this happens on such a level as to be considered "constant". I will say that when one has a 50 year old man who claims to be a trans-six year old girl that is clearly indicative of a psycological disorder. It is called Gender Identity Disorder and is in the DSM V.

Quote:Also, people who think "non-standard" gender identities is nothing but modern liberal PC "decadence" forget that such people exist and are accepted in many traditional cultures. In some Native American societies they were called Two-Spirit people.

Actually it is funny you'd bring up that little bit of cultural appropriation. All the literature indicates that a Two-Spirit would be neither male nor female but it certainly is not a man who wishes to be a woman or vice versa. Furthermore, only some Amerindian societies incorporated such a concept as the gender bending as it were was also associated with shamanic power.

In fact white transsexuals who use the title two-spirit are in fact privileged cultural appropriators Odin and you should fight them.

[Anthony '58]

My thoughts:

1. There are scores of millions of Americans - heavily skewed toward the older generations still alive today, and toward certain regions; i.e., the South, and Rocky Mountain states like Idaho and Montana - who will go to their graves believing that transvestitism - see Deuteronomy 22:5 - is an abomination.  No one is ever going to change their hearts and minds.  As Barry Goldwater so correctly pointed out, you can't legislate love.

2. There will never be one-size-fits-all moral standards in this country.  The last time we tried to impose such standards, the result was a literally fratricidal war that was eight times as deadly as World War II on a per-capita basis.

3. On Wall Street they have a saying: "Bulls make money and bears make money, but hogs get slaughtered." Similarly, in politics, donkeys win elections and elephants win elections, but hogs get slaughtered: If one side or the other insists on winning every single battle, on every single front, that side will invariably lose the war.

[Kinser79]

(05-14-2016, 01:21 PM)Anthony 58 Wrote: My thoughts:

1. There are scores of millions of Americans - heavily skewed toward the older generations still alive today, and toward certain regions; i.e., the South, and Rocky Mountain states like Idaho and Montana - who will go to their graves believing that transvestitism - see Deuteronomy 22:5 - is an abomination.  No one is ever going to change their hearts and minds.  As Barry Goldwater so correctly pointed out, you can't legislate love.

And Goldwater is right. However, not being religious I don't base my position on biblical passages. Rather I'm basing my position on science--in this case psychology which definitely states that Gender dysphoria (dys- being the opposite of eu-) is a mental illness (DSM IV, DSM V both). The statement by American College of Pediatricians who bluntly state that the Regressive Left ideology on gender is actively harmful to children.

(http://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks...s-children)

And I will also note that Odin's cute little chart doesn't provide the methodology. As Mark Twain reputedly said there are lies, goddamn lies and statistics. There are various ways one could could structure the question so as to get any result deired--such as asking just about "traditionally" masculine thought.

Quote:2. There will never be one-size-fits-all moral standards in this country.  The last time we tried to impose such standards, the result was a literally fratricidal war that was eight times as deadly as World War II on a per-capita basis.

If anything by pulling this stunt I have a feeling that Obama is trying to destract from the election. Probably because a bomb shell is about to emerge for HRC. This particular instruction is little more then Presidential bullying because it isn't even a real executive order and has no law to back it (probably because it would die in the House even if somehow the Senate managed to lose its mind). The order will probably be the second thing rescinded once Donald Trump is inaugurated.

[Anthony '58]

Quote:The order will probably be the second thing rescinded once Donald Trump is inaugurated.

Trump needs to get out front on this ASAP. It will really hone his "national liberal" credentials.

[Odin]

(05-15-2016, 10:17 AM)Anthony Wrote: Trump needs to get out front on this ASAP.  It will really hone his "national liberal" credentials.

Oh look, another bigot jumps on the "trans-men are pedophiles" bandwagon.

[Kinser79]

(05-15-2016, 12:53 PM)Odin Wrote: Oh look, another bigot jumps on the "trans-men are pedophiles" bandwagon.

Oh look Odin makes an ad hom against someone who isn't towing the Regressive Left Party line.

[Kinser79]

(05-15-2016, 10:17 AM)Anthony 58 Wrote:

Quote:The order will probably be the second thing rescinded once Donald Trump is inaugurated.

Trump needs to get out front on this ASAP. It will really hone his "national liberal" credentials.

He's already said that is a state's issue. And on that he's right. Where people use the can is not the Federal Government's business and falls under the 10th.

[Bob Butler 54]

(05-13-2016, 07:01 PM)Kinser79 Wrote: Actually it isn't just that crowd.  A large number of the G's, L's and B's want to kick the T's out of the acronym.  The difference is that transseuxalism is not an orientation, rather it is a mental illness.  It has to be since even after transitioning transexuals have suicide rates on par with Jews in Nazi Germany.  Since I know for a fact that trannies aren't being rounded up and sent to Auschwitz that leaves only untreated mental illness (the #1 cause of suicide) to be cupable.

The simple fact of the matter is that gender is a biological construct and in order to protect all parties segregation in some areas on the basis of sex is necessary.

I'm not entirely sure the above is right.  A few centuries back, everyone knew negroes were inferior and stupid.  One generation's mental illness can turn into another generation's personal preference.  I'm not going to guess what the standard might be in another century.  Not like today's standard seems a safe bet.

I do know that if prejudice against transsexuals is indeed bigotry, I seem to be a bigot.  If anyone with one unusual sexual twist can pretend or claim to have a different unusual sexual twist, I'm uncomfortable with letting everyone go everywhere.

My initial thought is that if the feds want to force all schools to have a transsexual bathroom, put a porta potty in the middle of the central court yard.

[naf140230]

(05-14-2016, 02:46 PM)Kinser79 Wrote: The order will probably be the second thing rescinded once Donald Trump is inaugurated.

Except that such an inauguration might not happen.

[naf140230]

(05-13-2016, 01:48 PM)Odin Wrote: Link

Quote:WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is planning to issue a sweeping directive telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.

A letter to school districts will go out Friday, adding to a highly charged debate over transgender rights in the middle of the administration’s legal fight with North Carolina over the issue. The declaration — signed by Justice and Education department officials — will describe what schools should do to ensure that none of their students are discriminated against.

It does not have the force of law, but it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

The move is certain to draw fresh criticism, particularly from Republicans, that the federal government is wading into local matters and imposing its own values on communities across the country that may not agree. It represents the latest example of the Obama administration using a combination of policies, lawsuits and public statements to change the civil rights landscape for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people.

After supporting the rights of gay people to marry, allowing them to serve openly in the military and prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against them, the administration is wading into the battle over bathrooms and siding with transgender people.

“No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus,” John B. King Jr., the secretary of the Department of Education, said in a statement. “We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence.”

Courts have not settled the question of whether the nation’s sex discrimination laws apply in matters of gender identity. But administration officials, emboldened by a federal appeals court ruling in Virginia last month, think they have the upper hand. This week, the Justice Department and North Carolina sued each other over a state law that restricts access to bathrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms. The letter to school districts had been in the works for months, Justice Department officials said.

“A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so,” according to the letter, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times.

A school’s obligation under federal law “to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of sex requires schools to provide transgender students equal access to educational programs and activities even in circumstances in which other students, parents, or community members raise objections or concerns,” the letter states. “As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others’ discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students.”

As soon as a child’s parent or legal guardian asserts a gender identity for the student that “differs from previous representations or records,” the letter says, the child is to be treated accordingly — without any requirement for a medical diagnosis or birth certificate to be produced. It says that schools may — but are not required to — provide other restroom and locker room options to students who seek “additional privacy” for whatever reason.

Attached to the letter, the Obama administration will include a 25-page document describing “emerging practices” that are in place in many schools around the country. Those included installing privacy curtains or allowing students to change in bathroom stalls.

In a blog post accompanying the letter, senior officials at the Justice and Education Departments said they issued it in response to a growing chorus of inquiries from educators, parents and students across the country, including from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, to clarify their obligations and “best practices” for the treatment of transgender students.

“Schools want to do right by all of their students and have looked to us to provide clarity on steps they can take to ensure that every student is comfortable at their school, is in an environment free of discrimination, and has an opportunity to thrive,” wrote Catherine E. Lhamon, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights, and Vanita Gupta, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Thomas Aberli, a high school principal in Louisville, Ky., said the new guidance would help administrators across the country who are trying to determine the best way to establish safe and inclusive schools. He said his school had little to work with when it drafted a policy that was put in place last year.

“What you don’t do is go and tell a kid, ‘You know, there is something so freakishly different about you that you make other people uncomfortable, so we’re going to make you do something different’,” said Mr. Aberli, who estimated that his school of 1,350 students had about six transgender children. “There’s been no incident since its implementation. It’s really just a nonissue in our school.”

The White House has called North Carolina’s law “meanspirited” and said this week that federal agencies were continuing a review of their policies on the treatment of transgender people while the administration waged its legal battle with the state.

President Obama condemned the law last month, saying it was partly the result of politics and “emotions” that people had on the issue.

“When it comes to respecting the equal rights of all people, regardless of sexual orientation, whether they’re transgender or gay or lesbian, although I respect their different viewpoints, I think it’s very important for us not to send signals that anybody is treated differently,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference in London.

The struggle over the rights of transgender people has reverberated on the presidential campaign trail and become a defining issue in the final year of Mr. Obama’s tenure, prompting boycotts of North Carolina by some celebrities and businesses that had planned to create jobs there. The fresh guidance to be issued Friday seemed certain to intensify that debate, and showed that Mr. Obama and his administration intend to press the issue of transgender rights aggressively as the legal challenge unfolds.

The Justice Department has for years made gay and transgender issues centerpieces of its civil rights agenda. Former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. described that campaign as a continuation of the civil rights era that brought equal rights to African-Americans. And this week, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch spoke passionately to transgender people as she cast the lawsuit against North Carolina in historic terms.

“We stand with you,” she said. “And we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. Please know that history is on your side.”

Some Republicans have defended North Carolina’s law by arguing that it would be inappropriate to allow transgender women to use the same bathroom as young girls. Before ending his presidential bid last week, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas charged that Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, and Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, “both agree that grown men should be allowed to use the little girls’ restroom.”

I don't know if this belongs here or in General Political Discussion, so feel free to move it if you need to, Dan!

I agree with the President.

[Kinser79]

(05-15-2016, 10:37 PM)naf140230 Wrote:

(05-14-2016, 02:46 PM)Kinser79 Wrote: The order will probably be the second thing rescinded once Donald Trump is inaugurated.

Except that such an inauguration might not happen.

Someone said on an other thread that the bases of both parties have been "red pilled" (to use a turn of phrase). If that is the case, then HRC will not be president because she represents everything that is wrong with the Established Order.

[radind]

(05-16-2016, 06:44 AM)Kinser79 Wrote:

(05-15-2016, 10:37 PM)naf140230 Wrote:

(05-14-2016, 02:46 PM)Kinser79 Wrote: The order will probably be the second thing rescinded once Donald Trump is inaugurated.

Except that such an inauguration might not happen.

Someone said on an other thread that the bases of both parties have been "red pilled" (to use a turn of phrase).  If that is the case, then HRC will not be president because she represents everything that is wrong with the Established Order.

When the decision is down to Trump or Clinton, I don't see many Obama voters going to Trump. Worldviews don't change easily.

[Kinser79]

The world view doesn't have to change. The desire for something other than status quo merely needs to be greater than the pull of those values.

[Odin]

The bathroom hysteria and bigotry towards transgender people doesn't just hurt transgender people:

Woman who donated hair to cancer patients mistaken for trans woman and harassed in restroom

[Kinser79]

(05-17-2016, 08:05 AM)Odin Wrote: The bathroom hysteria and bigotry towards transgender people doesn't just hurt transgender people:

Woman who donated hair to cancer patients mistaken for trans woman and harassed in restroom

Considering how large the Locks of Love charity is and how many different people do in fact donate hair for cancer patients the reporter was actively looking for some transphobia and found some. Nothing to see here.

[naf140230]

(05-13-2016, 01:48 PM)Odin Wrote: Link

Quote:WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is planning to issue a sweeping directive telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.

A letter to school districts will go out Friday, adding to a highly charged debate over transgender rights in the middle of the administration’s legal fight with North Carolina over the issue. The declaration — signed by Justice and Education department officials — will describe what schools should do to ensure that none of their students are discriminated against.

It does not have the force of law, but it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

The move is certain to draw fresh criticism, particularly from Republicans, that the federal government is wading into local matters and imposing its own values on communities across the country that may not agree. It represents the latest example of the Obama administration using a combination of policies, lawsuits and public statements to change the civil rights landscape for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people.

After supporting the rights of gay people to marry, allowing them to serve openly in the military and prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against them, the administration is wading into the battle over bathrooms and siding with transgender people.

“No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus,” John B. King Jr., the secretary of the Department of Education, said in a statement. “We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence.”

Courts have not settled the question of whether the nation’s sex discrimination laws apply in matters of gender identity. But administration officials, emboldened by a federal appeals court ruling in Virginia last month, think they have the upper hand. This week, the Justice Department and North Carolina sued each other over a state law that restricts access to bathrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms. The letter to school districts had been in the works for months, Justice Department officials said.

“A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so,” according to the letter, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times.

A school’s obligation under federal law “to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of sex requires schools to provide transgender students equal access to educational programs and activities even in circumstances in which other students, parents, or community members raise objections or concerns,” the letter states. “As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others’ discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students.”

As soon as a child’s parent or legal guardian asserts a gender identity for the student that “differs from previous representations or records,” the letter says, the child is to be treated accordingly — without any requirement for a medical diagnosis or birth certificate to be produced. It says that schools may — but are not required to — provide other restroom and locker room options to students who seek “additional privacy” for whatever reason.

Attached to the letter, the Obama administration will include a 25-page document describing “emerging practices” that are in place in many schools around the country. Those included installing privacy curtains or allowing students to change in bathroom stalls.

In a blog post accompanying the letter, senior officials at the Justice and Education Departments said they issued it in response to a growing chorus of inquiries from educators, parents and students across the country, including from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, to clarify their obligations and “best practices” for the treatment of transgender students.

“Schools want to do right by all of their students and have looked to us to provide clarity on steps they can take to ensure that every student is comfortable at their school, is in an environment free of discrimination, and has an opportunity to thrive,” wrote Catherine E. Lhamon, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights, and Vanita Gupta, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Thomas Aberli, a high school principal in Louisville, Ky., said the new guidance would help administrators across the country who are trying to determine the best way to establish safe and inclusive schools. He said his school had little to work with when it drafted a policy that was put in place last year.

“What you don’t do is go and tell a kid, ‘You know, there is something so freakishly different about you that you make other people uncomfortable, so we’re going to make you do something different’,” said Mr. Aberli, who estimated that his school of 1,350 students had about six transgender children. “There’s been no incident since its implementation. It’s really just a nonissue in our school.”

The White House has called North Carolina’s law “meanspirited” and said this week that federal agencies were continuing a review of their policies on the treatment of transgender people while the administration waged its legal battle with the state.

President Obama condemned the law last month, saying it was partly the result of politics and “emotions” that people had on the issue.

“When it comes to respecting the equal rights of all people, regardless of sexual orientation, whether they’re transgender or gay or lesbian, although I respect their different viewpoints, I think it’s very important for us not to send signals that anybody is treated differently,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference in London.

The struggle over the rights of transgender people has reverberated on the presidential campaign trail and become a defining issue in the final year of Mr. Obama’s tenure, prompting boycotts of North Carolina by some celebrities and businesses that had planned to create jobs there. The fresh guidance to be issued Friday seemed certain to intensify that debate, and showed that Mr. Obama and his administration intend to press the issue of transgender rights aggressively as the legal challenge unfolds.

The Justice Department has for years made gay and transgender issues centerpieces of its civil rights agenda. Former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. described that campaign as a continuation of the civil rights era that brought equal rights to African-Americans. And this week, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch spoke passionately to transgender people as she cast the lawsuit against North Carolina in historic terms.

“We stand with you,” she said. “And we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. Please know that history is on your side.”

Some Republicans have defended North Carolina’s law by arguing that it would be inappropriate to allow transgender women to use the same bathroom as young girls. Before ending his presidential bid last week, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas charged that Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, and Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, “both agree that grown men should be allowed to use the little girls’ restroom.”

I don't know if this belongs here or in General Political Discussion, so feel free to move it if you need to, Dan!

I think this belongs in the General Political Discussion.

[Webmaster]

(05-17-2016, 04:49 PM)naf140230 Wrote:

(05-13-2016, 01:48 PM)Odin Wrote: Link

Quote:WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is planning to issue a sweeping directive telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.

A letter to school districts will go out Friday, adding to a highly charged debate over transgender rights in the middle of the administration’s legal fight with North Carolina over the issue. The declaration — signed by Justice and Education department officials — will describe what schools should do to ensure that none of their students are discriminated against.

It does not have the force of law, but it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

The move is certain to draw fresh criticism, particularly from Republicans, that the federal government is wading into local matters and imposing its own values on communities across the country that may not agree. It represents the latest example of the Obama administration using a combination of policies, lawsuits and public statements to change the civil rights landscape for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people.

After supporting the rights of gay people to marry, allowing them to serve openly in the military and prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against them, the administration is wading into the battle over bathrooms and siding with transgender people.

“No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus,” John B. King Jr., the secretary of the Department of Education, said in a statement. “We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence.”

Courts have not settled the question of whether the nation’s sex discrimination laws apply in matters of gender identity. But administration officials, emboldened by a federal appeals court ruling in Virginia last month, think they have the upper hand. This week, the Justice Department and North Carolina sued each other over a state law that restricts access to bathrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms. The letter to school districts had been in the works for months, Justice Department officials said.

“A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so,” according to the letter, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times.

A school’s obligation under federal law “to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of sex requires schools to provide transgender students equal access to educational programs and activities even in circumstances in which other students, parents, or community members raise objections or concerns,” the letter states. “As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others’ discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students.”

As soon as a child’s parent or legal guardian asserts a gender identity for the student that “differs from previous representations or records,” the letter says, the child is to be treated accordingly — without any requirement for a medical diagnosis or birth certificate to be produced. It says that schools may — but are not required to — provide other restroom and locker room options to students who seek “additional privacy” for whatever reason.

Attached to the letter, the Obama administration will include a 25-page document describing “emerging practices” that are in place in many schools around the country. Those included installing privacy curtains or allowing students to change in bathroom stalls.

In a blog post accompanying the letter, senior officials at the Justice and Education Departments said they issued it in response to a growing chorus of inquiries from educators, parents and students across the country, including from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, to clarify their obligations and “best practices” for the treatment of transgender students.

“Schools want to do right by all of their students and have looked to us to provide clarity on steps they can take to ensure that every student is comfortable at their school, is in an environment free of discrimination, and has an opportunity to thrive,” wrote Catherine E. Lhamon, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights, and Vanita Gupta, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Thomas Aberli, a high school principal in Louisville, Ky., said the new guidance would help administrators across the country who are trying to determine the best way to establish safe and inclusive schools. He said his school had little to work with when it drafted a policy that was put in place last year.

“What you don’t do is go and tell a kid, ‘You know, there is something so freakishly different about you that you make other people uncomfortable, so we’re going to make you do something different’,” said Mr. Aberli, who estimated that his school of 1,350 students had about six transgender children. “There’s been no incident since its implementation. It’s really just a nonissue in our school.”

The White House has called North Carolina’s law “meanspirited” and said this week that federal agencies were continuing a review of their policies on the treatment of transgender people while the administration waged its legal battle with the state.

President Obama condemned the law last month, saying it was partly the result of politics and “emotions” that people had on the issue.

“When it comes to respecting the equal rights of all people, regardless of sexual orientation, whether they’re transgender or gay or lesbian, although I respect their different viewpoints, I think it’s very important for us not to send signals that anybody is treated differently,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference in London.

The struggle over the rights of transgender people has reverberated on the presidential campaign trail and become a defining issue in the final year of Mr. Obama’s tenure, prompting boycotts of North Carolina by some celebrities and businesses that had planned to create jobs there. The fresh guidance to be issued Friday seemed certain to intensify that debate, and showed that Mr. Obama and his administration intend to press the issue of transgender rights aggressively as the legal challenge unfolds.

The Justice Department has for years made gay and transgender issues centerpieces of its civil rights agenda. Former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. described that campaign as a continuation of the civil rights era that brought equal rights to African-Americans. And this week, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch spoke passionately to transgender people as she cast the lawsuit against North Carolina in historic terms.

“We stand with you,” she said. “And we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. Please know that history is on your side.”

Some Republicans have defended North Carolina’s law by arguing that it would be inappropriate to allow transgender women to use the same bathroom as young girls. Before ending his presidential bid last week, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas charged that Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, and Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, “both agree that grown men should be allowed to use the little girls’ restroom.”

I don't know if this belongs here or in General Political Discussion, so feel free to move it if you need to, Dan!

I think this belongs in the General Political Discussion.

It was borderline at the start but I'm going move it since it's turning into a debate that could go on while.