Ensuring Transgender Students’ Safety and Dignity

NOW thanks the Obama Administration and the U.S. Department of Education, who acted courageously, appropriately and dramatically in issuing new guidance for school districts to ensure that transgender students have equal access to sex-segregated facilities such as restrooms and locker rooms.

Coming so soon after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil rights lawsuit against North Carolina’s so-called “bathroom bill,” this action underscores the Obama Administration’s unhesitant, unwavering commitment to the rights of transgender students to use facilities consistent with their gender identity.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in announcing her department’s action against North Carolina, said to transgender people, “please know that history is on your side.” She was right — and history will remember that the Obama Administration was welcoming, inclusive and fair in promoting policies protecting the rights of transgender students.

NOW is dedicated to promoting feminist ideals through intersectional grassroots organizing. We know that achieving real equality for all women includes promoting the fundamental rights of transgender people, and the work of our chapter leaders and activists around the country includes working with our allies to ensure the safety and dignity of all transgender students.

Contact: Tamara Stein, planner@now.org, 951-547-1241