11.11.3 Education Department No Longer Investigating Transgender Bathroom Complaints

The rights of K – 12 students who attend public schools have been interpreted and applied in dramatically varying ways since World War II. The use of bathroom facilities for students who do not identify with their assigned sex on their birth certificate is a topic that school leaders, administrators, and elected officials struggle to address fairly and humanely. This 2018 newspaper article explains shifts in policies between the Obama and Trump Departments of Education and Office of Civil Rights. Based on reading this article, what was the shift in policy? Why was it implemented, according to government leaders and civil rights groups? What is the alleged harm in allowing students to use the bathroom that syncs with their gender identity? How do we determine what to do when honoring the rights of one group of people elicits claims from another that their rights are being infringed upon? This article uses Title IX and the word “sex” in a different way than it was used in the 1972 law. What is the difference? How does it affect the battle over school bathrooms being understood as a civil rights issue? How does this document connect to other documents in this collection that relate to education and social justice movements?

The Education Department confirmed Monday it is no longer investigating civil rights complaints from transgender students barred from school bathrooms that match their gender identity, a development those students say leaves them vulnerable to bullying and violence. The Obama administration in 2016 directed public schools to allow students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity, even if that conflicted with the gender on their birth certificates. The administration concluded that barring transgender students from public school bathrooms was a form of sex discrimination prohibited under Title IX. But shortly after President Trump took office last year, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the guidance, a move that was widely decried by civil rights groups who said it could endanger the welfare of transgender students. DeVos said states and individual school districts should be able to determine how to accommodate transgender students. They argued that Title IX did not obligate schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice. . . .

The Education Department confirmed Monday it is no longer investigating civil rights complaints from transgender students barred from school bathrooms that match their gender identity, a development those students say leaves them vulnerable to bullying and violence.

The Obama administration in 2016 directed public schools to allow students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity, even if that conflicted with the gender on their birth certificates. The administration concluded that barring transgender students from public school bathrooms was a form of sex discrimination prohibited under Title IX.

But shortly after President Trump took office last year, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the guidance, a move that was widely decried by civil rights groups who said it could endanger the welfare of transgender students. DeVos said states and individual school districts should be able to determine how to accommodate transgender students. They argued that Title IX did not obligate schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice. . . .