Obama Administration Releases Guidance on School Bathroom Access for Transgenders
U.S. President Barack Obama has issued a controversial guidance on Friday, creating outrage across the nation on a highly sensitive issue on gender. The guidance, which according to CNN, was sent to every public school in the country, contains a directive to school officials to allow transgender students to be able to use bathrooms based on their gender identity.
The Bathroom Issue
The letter signed by the Department of Justice and Department of Education explicitly stated that "transgender students enjoy a supportive and non-discriminatory school environment." It comes after the debate on the issue has overshadowed this administration's efforts to show that America has the most liberal sense of freedom and democracy. The highest point of discussion came in as a legal dispute between the state of North Carolina and the administration when the former approved House Bill 2, which in essence, is quite the opposite to that of what the White House just released.
The same report revealed that the guidance is more than just about bathroom access since it also talked about privacy rights of transgender students, education records, as well as sex-segregated athletes.
Conservatives React
However, conservative-led states were quick to give their opposing views and outrage to the directive. While there is a risk of losing federal funds if they don't follow it, several states strongly condemned the guidance. The harshest criticism came from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas, who said, per report from Fox News that they won't be yielding to "blackmail" from the president of the United States. "This goes against the value of so many people," he said.
Aside from Lt. Gov. Patrick, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory also criticized the guidance and suggested that Congress should interfere and resolve the problem. In a statement released to the press, McCrory said that the Obama administration is trying to solve a problem that actually hasn't been specifically defined.
Fox News also reported that Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant was outraged by the directive and in fact has instructed the state's education department to ignore the guidance, justifying that it has no teeth and is not binding.
