When North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said President Obama and his administration were forcing the issue of transgender bathrooms on the entire country, even he probably wasn’t expecting the next shoe that dropped.
Thursday night, Education Secretary John King told the New York Times the administration would send out a letter to every public school district in the country Friday. In that letter, those schools will be ordered to make restrooms available to the opposite gender for all students who identify as transgender.
“No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus,” King said. “We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence.”
As of this writing, nothing has been officially announced by either the White House or the Department of Education. But the issue of transgender bathrooms is far from settled, even if a recent court opinion in the case of a Virginia student may have emboldened LGBT activists.
The Times reports the order, which would be effective immediately, had been in the works “for months,” according to a source in the Department of Justice:
“A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so,” according to the letter, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times.
A school’s obligation under federal law “to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of sex requires schools to provide transgender students equal access to educational programs and activities even in circumstances in which other students, parents, or community members raise objections or concerns,” the letter states. “As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others’ discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students.”
As soon as a child’s parent or legal guardian asserts a gender identity for the student that “differs from previous representations or records,” the letter says, the child is to be treated accordingly—without any requirement for a medical diagnosis or birth certificate to be produced. It says that schools may—but are not required to—provide other restroom and locker room options to students who seek “additional privacy” for whatever reason.
The letter will include a list of “emerging practices” that have already been implemented at other schools around the country. Those schools that fail—or refuse—to comply have been threatened with loss of their federal funding.
Todd Starnes of FOX News Radio was among the first to respond to the news. He said it was something he has been warning his listeners about for some time.
“I do have one question: What do you think the Secret Service would do if a grown man who identifies as a woman disrobed in front of President Obama’s daughters in the White House locker room?” he asked. “Friends—this is the moment I warned you about in my last book, God Less America. Who will stand? Who will defy this president and his despicable agenda?”
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