w*p
发帖数: 16484 | 1 U.S. tells schools to give transgender students bathroom rights
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration told U.S. public schools on
Friday that transgender students must be allowed to use the bathroom of
their choice, upsetting Republicans and raising the likelihood of fights
over federal funding and legal authority.
Conservatives pushed back against the administration's non-binding guidance
to schools, the latest battleground in the issue of rights for lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender Americans.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the guidance "must be challenged." A
Tea Party champion, he said in a statement, "If President Obama thinks he
can bully Texas schools into allowing men to have open access to girls in
bathrooms, he better prepare for yet another legal fight.”
Other Republican-led states joined calls to disregard the White House's
directive and accused the administration of overstepping its role. In North
Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory labeled the move a "massive executive branch
overreach" and called on federal courts and the U.S. Congress to intercede,
while Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said it was "offensive, intrusive and
totally lacking in common sense."
The U.S. Education and Justice departments, in a letter, told school
districts nationwide that while the new guidance carries no legal weight,
they must not discriminate against students, including based on their gender
identity.
The guidance contained an implicit threat that school districts defying the
Obama administration's interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or be
deprived of federal aid.
The White House defended its actions, saying the guidance should not be
viewed as a threat but instead as a set of "specific, tangible, real-world
advice and suggestions" that many schools had sought and will welcome.
"That's what we're looking for: Solutions that protect the safety and
dignity of every single student in school," White House spokesman Josh
Earnest told reporters at a daily briefing, adding that the idea was to
prevent discrimination against a range of groups extending beyond the
transgender community.
The directive came as the Justice Department and North Carolina are battling
in federal court over a state law approved in March prohibiting people from
using public restrooms not corresponding to their gender assigned at birth,
while other states weigh similar measures.
North Carolina's law was the first to ban people from restrooms in public
buildings and schools not matching the sex on their birth certificate.
Mississippi has enacted legislation similarly viewed as discriminatory by
civil and gay rights groups, and Tennessee and Missouri considered similar
measures.
The letter to the schools from Washington said that, to get federal funding
under existing rules, a school has to agree not to treat students or
activities differently on the basis of sex. That includes not treating a
transgender student differently from other students of the same gender
identity, officials said.
The American Civil Liberties Union said the guidance would help make
students "free to bring their whole selves to school."
In a sign of what defiant states may face, the Justice Department this week
asked a U.S. district court in North Carolina to declare the state in
violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and order it to stop enforcing the
ban.
Americans are divided over which public restrooms should be used by
transgender people, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed, with 44 percent saying
people should use them according to their biological sex and 39 percent
saying they should be used according to the gender with which they identify.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was less
critical than many of his party in several television interviews, saying the
issue should be left up to individual states.
"Everybody has to be protected ... but it's a tiny, tiny portion of the
population," Trump told Fox News. | j******z
发帖数: 3028 | | G****1
发帖数: 8414 | | p*****t
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发帖数: 16484 | 5 显然家长们担心的不只是偷看
【在 p*****t 的大作中提到】
: 女厕所又不是开放式的。
: 男生可能吃点亏。
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