Shame on Donald Trump for Rolling Back Rights for Transgender Students

Donald Trump’s decision to discriminate against transgender students is a shameful and unconstitutional attack on civil rights and human decency. Title IX is clear—the federal law prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational programs. Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions and Betsy DeVos are choosing to ignore Title IX in order to please their religious conservative base and to further an overarching white supremacist, misogynist agenda.

Seventy-five percent of transgender students report feeling unsafe in school, and if/when a transgender student is pushed out of school, they are at heightened risk of ending up in the juvenile justice system or being targeted by sex traffickers seeking at-risk youth. Tragically, nearly fifty percent of transgender people report attempting suicide, a figure that is further elevated among people who experience rejection, discrimination or violence at school or home.

In a letter to Donald Trump signed by more than 1000 parents of transgender children, the president was told, “No young person should wake up in the morning fearful of the school day ahead.” NOW calls on Donald Trump to reverse this ruling and instruct the Departments of Justice and Education to enforce—not erode—Title IX protections on behalf of transgender students.

Contact: M.E. Ficarra, press@now.org, 951-547-1241