Donald Trump has officially rescinded an Obama-era protection for transgender students on Wednesday, less than a year after former President Barack Obama introduced it.
According to Reuters, the Trump administration has told the U.S. Supreme Court that they are abandoning the previous administration’s directive that allows public school students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
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BREAKING: Trump administration notifies Supreme Court it is rescinding transgender student guidelines https://t.co/JZUjkQPLE0
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Officials in Betsy DeVos’ Department of Education and Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice notified the nation’s highest court that, going forward, they would ignore the Obama administration’s guidelines and leave the issue up to individual states.
If your state wants to discriminate against LGBT Americans, have at it, the Trump administration says.
While this is obviously a devastating blow for advocates of LGBTQ rights in this country, it’s also unsurprising. Remember, two days after Sessions was confirmed as the U.S. Attorney General, the Department of Justice announced that they would no longer defend these protections in court.
Wednesday’s move is just the latest step in Donald Trump’s quest to turn back the clock on civil rights in America.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
