Bryant: Obama’s transgender bathroom letter ‘outrageous’
“This is the most outrageous example yet of the Obama administration forcing its liberal agenda on states that roundly reject it,” Gov. Phil Bryant said of the letter in a written statement. “Public schools’ restroom policies should not be shaped by federal coercion.”
Mississippi Department of Education spokeswoman Patrice Guilfoyle said in a statement: “A safe and caring school environment is critical to a student’s ability to learn and achieve. The Mississippi Department of Education will adhere to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as well as the joint guidance issued today by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice.”
Schools that receive federal funding can’t deny benefits or treat differently a student based on sex unless Title IX authorizes them to do so. The departments consider gender identity and transgender status as sex, meaning “a school must not treat a transgender student differently from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity.”
Clarion Ledger
5/13/16
