If you thought Obama was going to ignore the transgender bathroom crisis, you will have to remain disappointed. Last week, Obama stated that not only would he withhold money from states that followed the legislation, in a similar fashion to the companies that have pulled their resources from certain states, but he has also provided directives for public school restrooms that must be followed if they want to keep federal funding.
The guidance states that transgender students should be allowed to use whatever bathroom they wish to, as has always been the norm until bills such as the one passed in North Carolina attempted to regulate bathroom privileges.
A letter from the Department of Education was sent out to public schools, a domain where federal regulations would have privilege, that stressed the importance of ensuring that all students, including transgender students, enjoy a safe and accepting environment.
But, again, the bathroom bill is about more than bathrooms. North Carolina's House Bill 2 includes discrimination against transpeople in the workplace, sex segregated sports, denial of privacy, etc. The guidance was released by the Obama Administration in the hopes that it would provide a guideline for teachers in order to protect their students.
In case you have forgotten the severity of the bathroom bills, many have equated it to hanging similar signs that ban races from using bathrooms. The singling out of transgender people results in an exclusion of them from society, placing precedence over the protection of some people but not all.
While some may choose to side with the bathroom bill, they are also choosing to support the sexual assault and endangering of transpeople.
While there have been zero reported cases of sexual assault towards women via a transperson, and while sexual violence in bathrooms has not changed due to the bathroom legislature, there has been in an increase in violence towards transpeople. The bill has introduced a forced coming out, urging people who would have otherwise preferred to just go about their way, to broadcast their gender identity in such a way as to make them a target.
While many continue to face humiliation, sexual assault, physical violence, etc due to the bathroom legislature, many are, again, removing the experiences of transpeople from the issue. And while many states allow transpeople to change the sex marker on their birth certificate, the process is emotionally draining and extraneous.
Specifically, changing the marker on one's birth certificate often requires the individual to have undergone surgery (something that not all transpeople necessarily want) and must also retain proof of surgery. What this all means is that in order to use a public restroom, transgender individuals must now, according to law, surgically alter their bodies to fit cisheteronormative ideals.
On top of all of this, legislations such as Title VII, Title IX, and VAWA all protect transgender individuals from being discriminated against based on their sex, and this includes access to changing facilities and restrooms.
The guidance letters that were sent to public schools includes policies such as allowing students to use the changing rooms, bathrooms, and other gender segregated facilities that they identify with, be referred to by their preferred names, and the prevention of school required medical diagnosis or treatment.
As is often the case, discomfort is no excuse to treat others in such a way as to endanger them or discriminate against them. The main objective of the bill is to ensure students that no matter who they are or what they look like, as far as the Obama Administration is concerned, they are who they say they are and they are guaranteed an education free from violence or discrimmination.
So, the guidance for public schools is about more than just ordering schools around. It's about ensuring that every student has the same access to the same resources and feels safe in their school. Obama's move is a step in the direction of a zero tolerance policy for hatred and discrimination.
