The White House on Wednesday overturned protections for transgender students that required public schools to allow them to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching the gender with which they identify.
With the move, President Donald Trump has sided with social conservatives on a key issue at the centre of a broader cultural battle between conservatives and liberals.
Gender identity
By lifting federal guidelines issued by the Obama administration — interpreting Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in schools, to include gender identity — the Trump administration is leaving it up to States and school districts to decide whether students should have access to bathrooms that do not reflect their biological sex.
In a two-page guidance letter to public schools, the White House said the existing guidance did not “contain extensive legal analysis or explain how the position is consistent with the express language of Title IX, nor did they undergo any formal public process”.
The decision comes after a reported disagreement over the language between Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, a major opponent of the LGBT rights movement, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who is said to support LGBT rights and had to sign off on the move.
