TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – It’s a hot button issue that has affected the transgender community for years. Now, the Trump administration is expected to roll back protections for transgender students.
The move would reverse federal guidelines that required the nation’s public schools to allow kids to use the bathrooms and locker room that match their gender identity.
This news comes as a big disappointment for former Pine View High School student Nate Quinn, who for months spearheaded an effort at his Sarasota County school to create a transgender bathroom policy.
Now a freshman at the University of Florida, Quinn spoke with News Channel 8 on Wednesday.
“If I were still in high school right now, I would be very scared again and I would feel unsafe in public schools,” he said. “This news has been very hard to take.”
He says the administration’s planned actions means it’s back to the beginning for transgender students.
“Kids who are still in high school and that makes me scared for them and my parents scared for them,” he said. “I’m more worried about the students that I worked for, than me because I’m in college now and there’s no policies that are telling me where I can or cannot use the bathroom.
Quinn’s worried that the school district will stop talking about the issue and that transgendered students will not be protected.
“Right now that’s an issue that the Department of Justice and Department of Education are addressing,” said Sean Spicer, White House Press Secretary.
“I would tell you that — I think there will be further guidance coming from the Department of Justice in particular with respect to not just the executive order, but also the case that’s in front of the Supreme Court. The president has maintained for a long time that this is a state’s rights issue and not one for the federal government. So while there will be further guidance coming out on this, all you need to do is look at the president’s view for a long time that this is not something that the federal government should be involved in. This is a state’s rights issue,” said Spicer. “When you look at the guidance that was issued under the Obama administration — first of all let’s remember to the best of my knowledge that was stalled, never fully implemented, and I think there were various reasons for that.”
Nathan Bruemmer is a transgender activist and former Hillsborough County public school teacher and calls the Trump administrations move a major setback.
“The biggest concern again is the message to the children is that the President isn’t looking out for them,” he told News Channel 8. “They should be in school learning and not worried about their safety, not worried about bullying.”
This would not immediately impact school students because a federal judge had already put a hold on the Obama-Era directive.
Many legal experts say federal law protects transgender students no matter what.WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON RIGHT NOW
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