The Obama administration has released its guidance directing public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity.
The Departments of Education and Justice on Friday sent the guidance to all U.S. public schools that receive federal money in order to “ensure that all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex.”
The guidance cites Title X of the Education Amendments of 1972 that prohibits schools receiving federal money from discriminating based on a student’s sex, including a student’s transgender status. The guidance clarifies the law to put schools on notice that both the Education and the Justice Departments are interpreting the law to include a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex.
“There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement. “This guidance gives administrators, teachers and parents the tools they need to protect transgender students from peer harassment and to identify and address unjust school policies.”
“I look forward to continuing our work with the Department of Education — and with schools across the country — to create classroom environments that are safe, nurturing, and inclusive for all of our young people,” she said.
Education Secretary John King Jr. echoed Lynch’s statements, saying the guidance comes in response to pleas for clarification from educators across the country who “want to do the right thing for students.”
“No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus,” he said. “… 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.”
Under the guidance, schools must treat students consistent with their gender identity after a student or parent notifies the school of a student’s transgender status. The guidance prohibits schools from requiring transgender students to have medical diagnoses, undergo any medical treatment, or produce a birth certificate or other identification document before treating them consistent with their gender identity.
The guidance also spells out what the federal government considers the school’s obligations under the law, including “promptly and effectively” responding to sex-based harassment, treating students consistent with their gender identity even if their school records indicate a different sex, allowing students to participate in sex-segregated activities and access sex-segregated facilities consistent with their gender identity and protect student’s privacy related to their transgender status.
The new federal rules, however, don’t require schools to use shared bathrooms or changing spaces if there are “other appropriate options available.
“Schools can also take steps to increase privacy within shared facilities,” the guidance states.
