18 Feb Donald Trump Just Made His First Action Against LGBTQ People
Donald Trump‘s administration just took a huge step towards limiting the rights of transgender students.
Last summer, Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued an injunction that blocked certain guidelines put in place by the Obama administration. Those guidelines aimed to protect transgender students, permitting them access to restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity. Obama’s administration stated that, under Title IX, students cannot be discriminated against because they are transgender. “No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus,” former education secretary John B. King Jr. explained in a letter in May 2016. “This guidance further clarifies what we’ve said repeatedly — that gender identity is protected under Title IX.”
According to The New York Times, after O’Connor issued the injunction, the Obama administration submitted an appeal to prevent O’Connor’s ruling from applying nationwide. But on Friday, February 9, the Justice Department under Trump withdrew the former administration’s appeal.
Although it remains unclear as to what will happen next in the legal process, this move by the Trump administration is worrying many LGBTQ activists and human rights groups. Sarah Warbelow, the legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, explained, “Our concern is that it’s a very clear signal that at a minimum the Department of Justice — and possibly more broadly throughout the Trump administration — will not protect transgender students.”
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told The Huffington Post that this fight will not be an easy one for Trump to win. “We saw this coming, and it’s not a surprise,” Keisling said. “But the Trump administration is a mess. They take on the people they perceive as the weakest first. I don’t think they understand how strong we are.”