Obama Directs Public Schools to Allow Transgender Access to Restrooms

[Ogre]

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.”

My oldest daughter is going in to the 1st grade next year.  I am going to have to give some serious consideration over the summer to putting her in private school.  We'll have to see how this plays out, but I don't see either of the Presidential candidates reversing this "decree" by King Obama.

We truly are on a death spiral. 

[Kaos]

My oldest daughter is going in to the 1st grade next year.  I am going to have to give some serious consideration over the summer to putting her in private school.  We'll have to see how this plays out, but I don't see either of the Presidential candidates reversing this "decree" by King Obama.

We truly are on a death spiral.

Isn't education left to the states? 

What authority does the emperor have?

[Ogre]

What authority does the emperor have?

Since when has that stopped him?

[War Eagle!!!]

My oldest daughter is going in to the 1st grade next year.  I am going to have to give some serious consideration over the summer to putting her in private school.  We'll have to see how this plays out, but I don't see either of the Presidential candidates reversing this "decree" by King Obama.

We truly are on a death spiral.

You don't think that Trump will reverse, but you don't know. You know what Hillary will do.

But keep beating the #nevertrump drum...

[Snaggletiger]

"Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid."

^^^That's his authority^^^  And every State that disagrees should do exactly what North Carolina's Gubner just did.  Strike first and file suit. 

How is this so hard? Let each State put it to a vote.  This issue is probably as big an example as I've ever seen of the masses being forced to give in to the whining of maybe the smallest percentage of our society.  But that's the PC, hot button topic so the Left is going to shove it down our throats.

[Ogre]

You don't think that Trump will reverse, but you don't know. You know what Hillary will do.

But keep beating the #nevertrump drum...

I'm sure he'll come out today and say that he'll reverse the decision.  Then he'll have an interview next week with Chris Matthews and he'll say that we need to keep it as is.  Rinse, lather, repeat.

Nobody knows what Trump will do.  I do know that I am not voting for him.  That I will tell you.  Believe me.  I mean it bigly, and I have the best words.

[AUChizad]

You don't think that Trump will reverse, but you don't know. You know what Hillary will do.

But keep beating the #nevertrump drum...

The only way we don't know what he would do is if you assume he is lying, which is a fair assumption.

He is vocally opposed to HB2, and to this date, has never said otherwise.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2016/04/21/donald_trump_supports_transgender_bathroom_access_criticizes_north_carolina.html

In Rare Moment of Lucidity, Donald Trump Supports Trans Bathroom Access

By J. Bryan Lowder
Trump doesn't care where you pee.

Given that Donald Trump has thus far presented a fairly incoherent policy platform, it shouldn’t be surprising that he occasionally espouses a position progressives can appreciate. On an NBC Today town hall early Thursday, Trump responded to a question about North Carolina’s embattled anti-LGBT law—most reviled for the component that bans transgender people from the bathroom comporting with their gender identity—by saying that he didn’t think the measure was necessary.

“North Carolina did something that was very strong, and they’re paying a big price and there’s a lot of problems,” Trump told NBC’s Willie Geist, who had relayed the question from Twitter user Jessica Hershey. The GOP front-runner continued: 

North Carolina, what they are going through with all of the business that’s leaving and all of the strife—and that’s on both sides. You leave it the way it is. There have been very few complaints the way it is. People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate, there has been so little trouble. And the problem with what happened in North Carolina is the strife and the economic punishment that they’re taking.
Though his tenses were somewhat confusing, Trump was clearly suggesting that HB2 and other “bathroom bills” like it create problems (especially in the form of businesses abandoning your state en masse) where there were none. This picks up on the practical view that trans people have been using the bathroom alongside cisgender folks forever with little issue—and when there were problems, it was the trans individual who was at risk of violence. Of course, Trump’s leave-it-alone approach ignores the need for legal protections against anti-LGBTQ discrimination, but at least he’s against making life harder than it already is.

After a follow-up from Matt Lauer about whether he had trans employees—Trump wasn’t sure—the candidate confirmed that should a trans person like Caitlyn Jenner come to Trump Tower, she would be allowed the use the bathroom of her choice. Trump ended the exchange by characterizing new gender-neutral bathrooms—which some have advanced as a compromise solution—as “discriminatory” in their own way, not to mention being “unbelievably expensive for businesses and for the country.”

“Leave it the way it is,” he concluded.

[Ogre]

The only way we don't know what he would do is if you assume he is lying, which is a fair assumption.

He is vocally opposed to HB2, and to this date, has never said otherwise.

Wow, I'd completely forgotten about his stance on the HB2 bill.  Thanks for the reminder.

So my original premise stands true - neither candidate will do anything about the "decree." 

[Kaos]

  This issue is probably as big an example as I've ever seen of the masses being forced to give in to the whining of maybe the smallest percentage of our society.

THIS is the problem.

Since the 1960s we've turned away from being a society that conforms to the majority into one that forces the majority to conform to the minority.

Civil Rights.  At the time?  About 8% of the population of the United States. At no time was it more than 15%.   Yeah, maybe some of what was being done wasn't exactly right but we swung too far the other way.  There's a difference between equal opportunity and forced superiority. 

Prayer out of schools.  Atheist/Muslim children made up less than 5% of the population.  But let's inconvenience everyone so they have their rights at the expense of the rights of everyone else.

Gay marriage.  Less than 4% of the population.  But let's impose THEIR values, morals and beliefs on the other 96%. 

Transgender sickos.  Less than 1/2 of 1% of the population.  But suddenly they're lurking behind every tree. God forbid that THEY should be inconvenienced.  Let's force their fucked up choice and twisted mentality on the other 99.95% of the population.  Because that makes sense.  It's better for one out of a million to feel good about his/her/whatever sickness than it is for the rest of the country to maintain its systems. 


This is why there will come a day when the Muslims will take over this country.  As we pander to the fractional fucktards they continue to build their fervent, militant base.  There will come a time that people will abandon the tattered shreds of Christianity allowed to remain by our government and seek spiritual refuge in their perverted teachings.  And then it's over. 

[Kaos]

The only way we don't know what he would do is if you assume he is lying, which is a fair assumption.

He is vocally opposed to HB2, and to this date, has never said otherwise.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2016/04/21/donald_trump_supports_transgender_bathroom_access_criticizes_north_carolina.html

Jesus fuck.  Can you not read? 

He said that the executive order wasn't necessary, nor was North Carolina's response to it.  People had been getting along just fine without the freakazoid agitators causing a disturbance.  There was no need to address it from either side since the number of people impacted was miniscule to begin with. 

[AUChizad]

Jesus fuck.  Can you not read? 

He said that the executive order wasn't necessary, nor was North Carolina's response to it.  People had been getting along just fine without the freakazoid agitators causing a disturbance.  There was no need to address it from either side since the number of people impacted was miniscule to begin with.

Can YOU? He says he opposes HB2. Just like Obama. Just like Hillary. But you guys KNOW Hillary would double down, but we just can't possibly know what Trump would do. Your brain is broken if this is how you rationalize.

[Kaos]

Can YOU? He says he opposes HB2. Just like Obama. Just like Hillary. But you guys KNOW Hillary would double down, but we just can't possibly know what Trump would do. Your brain is broken if this is how you rationalize.

I'm on the same page with him.  Should have been left alone, wasn't really a problem. 

Why is that hard to understand? 

You post a LGBT interpretation of a series of comments where he said "the problem is the strife it's caused from BOTH sides" and proclaim that as a vindication of your position and that Trump loves him some transgays. 

He said pretty much exactly what I would have said.  It's bullshit that North Carolina was forced to take this action because there was no need for the stupid ass decree in the first place.  People were doing fine the way it was. 

But NOOOOOO.. Chizad and the gays make it into something it's not.  Whatever. 

[WiregrassTiger]

But NOOOOOO.. Chizad and the gays make it into something it's not.  Whatever.

You usually write well, however, in this instance it seems that you are attempting to separate Chizad and the gays in making your argument.

Can you please explain why you did this?

It seems to me that maybe inserting "other" in front of gays would be more appropriate and less confusing to the reader.

I'm not trying to pick nits here. I just feel that you need to live up to your normally high standard of concise and clearly defined writing style.

[Ogre]

I'm on the same page with him.  Should have been left alone, wasn't really a problem. 

Why is that hard to understand? 

You post a LGBT interpretation of a series of comments where he said "the problem is the strife it's caused from BOTH sides" and proclaim that as a vindication of your position and that Trump loves him some transgays. 

He said pretty much exactly what I would have said.  It's bullshoot that North Carolina was forced to take this action because there was no need for the stupid ass decree in the first place.  People were doing fine the way it was. 

But NOOOOOO.. Chizad and the gays make it into something it's not.  Whatever.

Sorry, but

Donald Trump Says Transgender People Should Use the Bathroom They Want


Donald J. Trump said Thursday that transgender people should be allowed to use whatever bathroom they feel most comfortable with — including at Trump Tower in New York.

Dipping into a contentious issue by taking a stand many Republicans oppose, Mr. Trump told a town-hall-style event, hosted by NBC’s “Today” show at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, that when people go to the restroom, they should “use the bathroom they feel is appropriate.”

Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, was responding to a question about a bill that North Carolina’s governor signed into law last month that bars individuals in the state from using public bathrooms that do not correspond to their biological sex — the one listed on their birth certificate. Since then, there has been a backlash that has included denunciations from businesses and celebrities opposed to the state’s action. And transgender issues more generally have pitted social conservatives against business interests that traditionally have been part of the Republican coalition in the South and elsewhere.

“North Carolina did something — it was very strong — and they’re paying a big price,” Mr. Trump said. “And there’s a lot of problems. And I heard — one of the best answers I heard was from a commentator yesterday saying, leave it the way it is, right now.”

He added that before the law passed, there had been “very few problems” but now North Carolina is experiencing an exodus of businesses and “strife” from people on both sides of the issue.

“You leave it the way it is,” he said. “There have been very few complaints the way it is.”

North Carolina’s law, which also removed anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and the backlash to it are now at the heart of the state’s hotly contested governor’s race.

Asked if the Trump organization employs any transgender people, Mr. Trump said he truly did not know, but added, “I probably do.” And in response to a follow-up question, he said that if Caitlyn Jenner were to walk into Trump Tower and want to use a bathroom, he would be comfortable with her choosing any bathroom she wanted. “That is correct,” Mr. Trump said.

“There’s a big move to create new bathrooms” for transgender people alone, Mr. Trump said. “First of all, I think that would be discriminatory in a certain way. It would be unbelievably expensive for businesses and for the country. Leave it the way it is.”

Mr. Trump’s main rival for the Republican nomination, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, immediately seized on the “Today” show comments on several platforms, pushing out a statement from his campaign, assailing Mr. Trump’s remarks both on Glenn Beck’s radio program and at a rally in Maryland, and sending out this critical message on Twitter: “Common sense: grown men shouldn’t be in bathrooms w/ little girls.”

Speaking to Mr. Beck, Mr. Cruz said the country has “gone off the deep end” and the idea of so-called genderless bathrooms is “absurd.”

“My 5-year-old knows the difference between boys and girls,” Mr. Cruz said, referring to his younger daughter. “That’s not a reasonable position. It is simply crazy. The idea that grown men would be allowed alone in a bathroom with little girls — you don’t need to be a behavioral psychologist to realize bad things can happen and any prudent person wouldn’t allow that.”

Speaking at a campaign event in Maryland, Mr. Cruz said that Mr. Trump had aligned himself with President Obama and Hillary Clinton. “Have we gone stark-raving nuts?” he asked, bemoaning what he said was a culture of political correctness.

Link

[Ogre]

Not only that, but

Bruce Jenner Posts Video Using Restroom at Trump Tower

Transgender reality TV star and former Olympian athlete Bruce “Caitlyn” Jenner used the women’s restroom at Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York on Wednesday, and took a shot at Sen. Ted Cruz on the way out.

“Oh my God, a trans woman in New York, I gotta take a pee,” Jenner, 66, said in a video posted on Facebook. “Oh my God, Trump International Hotel, I love this.”

Speaking to the camera, Jenner added: “OK, last week Donald Trump said I could take a pee anywhere in a Trump facility, so I am gonna go take a pee in the ladies’ room.”

Pausing at a men’s room inside Trump Tower, Jenner then said, “Not anymore,” before making his way into the ladies’ room.

After exiting the ladies’ room, Jenner said: “Thank you, Donald. I really appreciate it. And by the way, Ted, nobody got molested.”

[Kaos]

Sorry, but

Link

Because. That's. The. Way. It. Was. Before. Government. Started. Making. Decrees. 

Exactly where I am on the issue.  Leave it alone.  Less than one half of one percent is affected and then only a small percentage of THAT number wanted to make the choice. 

Government getting involved made it worse.  I'd be willing to look the other way if that freak Bruce went in the women's room.  I wouldn't have thought twice.  But now?  It's an issue because the gay Muslim Barry Sotero had to get his big ears in the middle of it. 

[Kaos]

Not only that, but

He's a fucking attention whore drag queen.  So what?  Now it's going to change back to a man.  I think it should just be shot in the street and left to rot. 

What are you going to do if you're running for president, Chizad/Ogre?  Get on your jet, fly back to NY from campaigning and tackle this sick fuck in the lobby? 

Trump said it wasn't a problem before.  Before a miniscule minority started making an issue out of it.  And guess what?  It wasn't.  I never thought about some trans what the fuck sicko being in there because it was handled discreetly.  As it SHOULD be.  And as he said.  It should have been left alone.  So the one half of one percent that is a freak like this could do what they do quietly and privately AS THEY'VE DONE FOR DECADES. 

He didn't push for the legislation, wouldn't push for the legislation.  Leave it to people to make their own sense out of things.  Leave it alone. That's what he said. 

But keep on barking at the moon.

[WiregrassTiger]

I've gone in the women's room a few times. Accidental or a one seater and locked the door in an emergency.

But, regardless of what the law says, I think that it is our duty as citizens to kick the shit out of any dress wearing freak with a dick that goes into the ladies room. That's just the way that I see it. So, Chizzy, you best remember what I said.

[Ogre]

What are you going to do if you're running for president, Chizad/Ogre?  Get on your jet, fly back to NY from campaigning and tackle this sick fudge in the lobby? 

Not if I'm Trump, because I invited him and any other transgender to do it. 

All I'm saying is that Trump won't reverse Obama's decision.  There is no proof that he will. 

[AUChizad]

I've gone in the women's room a few times. Accidental or a one seater and locked the door in an emergency.

But, regardless of what the law says, I think that it is our duty as citizens to kick the shit out of any dress wearing freak with a dick that goes into the ladies room. That's just the way that I see it. So, Chizzy, you best remember what I said.