Trump revokes transgender guidance

Today the president’s administration reversed Obama-era guidelines that allowed transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice.
The Trump administration continues to shake things up in the White House. The latest change is transgender student rights. Mississippi Rainbow Center President Molly Kester said, “We saw our community as being the first to be attacked. The first one to have rights removed or the first to have stuff put up against us.”
The president reversed guidelines put in place by former president Barack Obama that said transgender students have the right to use school bathrooms and locker rooms that match the gender they identify with rather than the gender on their birth certificate. Gulfport resident Lester Denley said, “I don’t think you can just decide you want to be a boy when you’re a girl. I can’t decide I’m going to be 21 so I can drink if I’m only 17.”
Although the original guidance carried no force of law, transgender rights advocates say it was necessary to protect students from discrimination and keep them out of harm’s way. “The biggest problem/concern that I have is there are children that have actually made themselves sick because they won’t go to the bathroom because they’re getting picked on and bullied,” said Kester.
Trump believes that states and public schools should have the authority to make their own decisions without federal government interference. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, “As far as the conclusions go, I’ve made this clear and the president’s made this clear throughout the campaign that he is a firm believer in state’s rights and that certain issues like this are not best dealt with at the federal level.”
The Supreme Court and the nation’s public schools were notified in letters from the justice and education departments about the change.