State, school leaders respond to transgender rights rollback

Posted 2/28/17

By TESSA ROY

After President Donald Trump rolled back Obama-era protections for transgender students that allowed them to use restrooms that fit their gender identity in favor of making the issue …

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State, school leaders respond to transgender rights rollback

Posted

By TESSA ROY

After President Donald Trump rolled back Obama-era protections for transgender students that allowed them to use restrooms that fit their gender identity in favor of making the issue one of “state’s rights,” a number of Rhode Island’s leaders spoke out against the move and vowed to continue protecting transgender students.

Senator Jack Reed released a statement calling Trump’s action “short sighted” and said students across the country have a right to a discrimination-free public education.

“Rhode Island’s law and policies protect LGBT individuals from discrimination.  But a child’s right to grow up free from harassment and unequal treatment shouldn’t depend on the state that child is from,” he said. “The Trump Administration’s rescission of these protections is short-sighted and at odds with our shared values.”  

The National Education Association of Rhode Island, which is based in Cranston, also condemned Trump’s actions in a statement last week.

“We’ve been told since the election that the LGBTQ community had nothing to worry about with a President Trump. Yet at his first opportunity he chooses to attack LGBTQ youth. It’s offensive and disgraceful,” said NEARI President Larry Purtill in a statement. “We will do everything possible to protect, welcome and embrace our transgender students. Every, and I mean every, student deserves that, and I will be asking RIDE to take this opportunity to recommit to the existing state law and guidance already in place.”

Purtill added, “Rescinding federal guidance does not undo legal protections for transgender students. Transgender students are protected by the Constitution and Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sex. This includes when using restrooms and other school facilities.”

The education community shared similar sentiments. Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Ken Wagner ensured the affected students’ safety and protection as well.

“The rescinding of this federal guidance does not change our policy. There is no room for discrimination in our schools, and we will continue to protect all students, including transgender and gender nonconforming students, from any type of bias,” Wagner said in a statement. “Rhode Island has a strong history of encouraging safe and supportive learning environments, and we intend to continue that practice. It is imperative that all education professionals continue to be strong role models and advocates for the safety and well-being of the children entrusted to their care.”

RIDE also stated it would continue to expect schools to “foster an education environment that is safe and free from discrimination for all students, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression; comply with all federal and state laws concerning bullying, harassment and discrimination; reduce the stigmatization of and improve the educational integration of transgender and nonconforming students, maintaining the privacy of all students, and fostering cultural competence and professional development for school staff”; and “support healthy communication between educators and parent(s)/guardian(s) to further the successful educational development and well-being of every student.” It then referred to its 11-page “Guidance for Rhode Island Schools on Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students” that was issued last year.

Governor Gina Raimondo seconded RIDE’s sentiments in a statement of her own.

“I commend the Rhode Island Department of Education for its steadfast commitment to ensuring the rights and safety of all students, including transgender and gender non-conforming students,” she said. “There’s a place in Rhode Island for everyone, and that means there is a place in our schools for everyone.”

Steven Brown of the Rhode Island ACLU also weighed in.

“We find the rescinding of the guidance very troubling for a lot of reasons. It’s an assault on some of the most vulnerable children in our state and in the country. The positive thing is that rescinding the guidance will have a minimal effect on the continued protection of student’s rights,” he said. “The Constitution, federal law still exists to provide protections. It’s the symbolic nature of what the president has done that’s troubling to me.”

Brown noted that the ACLU finds allowing students to use bathrooms that fit their gender identity to be an obligation under the law. “The law still requires it, and the state department of education as well put out a very detailed guidance for students that comes to the same conclusion,” he said.

Brown also said a number of organizations plan to send letters to every school district encouraging them to continue following standards that existed, RIDE’s guidance, and what the ACLU believes federal law requires.

The Rhode Island State Council of Churches agreed transgender students are among the most vulnerable. They denounced Trump’s move, urged him and his administration to change the policy, and encouraged Rhode Island schools to adhere to RIDE policy regarding transgender and non-conforming students.

“As people of faith we believe all persons are created in God’s image and are worthy of dignity and respect.  Federal policy and legislation should set the highest standard of human worth and value and demand that nothing less will be accepted,” the council said in a release. “History teaches us that in the absence of federal policy and legislation that states vary in their efficacy in providing equal rights to all.  By the very nature of this approach there will be inequality among the states.”  

Warwick Superintendent Philip Thornton said Warwick Public Schools would continue to follow RIDE’s guidance. Johnston Superintendent Bernard DiLullo said his town’s schools have had a policy in place for years that was discussed with an attorney, which they will continue to uphold.

“We adhere to the policy that our students can use the bathroom of the gender they identify with as opposed to the gender that they’re born with,” he said. “We are going to honor that policy at this time.”

DiLullo also noted that Johnston has transgender students “at all levels.”

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  • JohnStark

    On one hand, Larry Purtill from the teachers' union condemns the president for an "attack" on LGBTQ youth (the "Q" stands for what, again?). In the next sentence, we are told that the action "...does not undo legal protections for transgender students" who, we are lectured, "...are protected by the Constitution...." Take a breath, Mr. Purtill. This action simply allows individual states to construct policies that are in the best interest of its' students. Oh, the horrors!!!! Only in liberal la la land is such an action deemed to be an "attack". Gender Dysphoria remains a diagnosable mental disorder in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (Fifth Edition). Activists may curiously see it as their collective duty to normalize a mental illness, something for which we should display compassion. It is not, however, a proper role of the federal government to march in lockstep with such lunacy. Perhaps Mr. Purtill, being an educator, could point to that section of the Constitution that outlines how the Framers dealt with Gender Dysphoria. A hip new cause does not a constitutional matter make.

    Tuesday, February 28, 2017 Report this

  • RISchadenfreude

    "Attacking" youth...I'm tired of being "attacked" by people who think this behavior is normal and force it on the rest of us.

    The problem with progressive dogma is that the status quo must always be attacked- even if they got their way, they'd fight their own new policies to devolve the system and norms even further...it never ends.

    John Stark, the acronym continues to evolve so that the left can lump in some more "aggrieved" parties to the LGBTQBLTEIEIO consortium.

    These pinheads are providing another good argument for school choice and home schooling.

    Wednesday, March 1, 2017 Report this

  • JohnStark

    To RISchad's point, it's all in the pc vernacular. "LGBTQ community" sounds so much more 'accepting' than "homosexuals and transvestites". The unspoken rule: If you want to soften the name of an aggrieved victim group, add "community". That is a point about the linguistics, and not the particular form of mental illness for which we should, again, demonstrate compassion. As it relates to schools, in the 2015-16 school year, only 31% of RI's public school tenth graders met or exceeded standards in Basic Literacy. The number was 14% (14%!!) at Warwick Vets, but we've solved that problem. Only 19% met or exceeded standards in Geometry. RI's public school students also lagged median national scores on all three sections of the SAT. But fear not because the State Dept. of Education now proudly displays an 11-page “Guidance for Rhode Island Schools on Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students”. If you are wondering why more than 2 of every 3 RI public school tenth graders are functionally illiterate, you may wish to consider the roomful of beaurocratic misfits required to produce 11 pages on "gender nonconforming students".

    Wednesday, March 1, 2017 Report this