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Michigan transgender advocacy group holds meeting about Trump's Title IX guidance repeal

Bryan McDonald
/
Flickr Creative Commons http://michrad.io/1LXrdJM

The Trump administration has alarmed transgender students and their families, according to the advocacy group Stand with Trans.

The group is looking to update the Michigan transgender community and educators at an informational session on Wednesday night about transgender students' rights at schools in Michigan.

The Trump administration recently rescinded federal guidelines that made clear that Title IX protects transgender youth from discrimination in schools and colleges.

"They might have sowed seeds of confusion. But they didn't change the law," said Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the LGBT Project of the ACLU of Michigan, who is scheduled to speak at Wednesday night's meeting. "They can't change Title IX. They can't change a line of federal case law precedent. And they can't change our constitution." 

"There is a body of law that makes it very clear that civil rights laws that prohibit sex discrimination cover transgender people and thus prohibit them from being discriminated against," said Kaplan. "And the equal protection clause of our constitution also protects transgender people from discrimination."

Lisa Goyette, board member of Stand with Trans, said that with the repeal, Trump has broken his campaign promise to protect transgender youth.

"It's very disappointing. We feel that he does not care about transgender youth," said Goyette. "They are already an extremely marginalized community within our school system. And they suffer from very high statistics in the areas of bullying and suicide. And we know that one of the things that helps reduce that immensely is allowing our children to be in schools that are safe and supportive of recognizing their true gender identity."

"Transgender children, they just want to live their life. They want to enjoy the same protections that all other children enjoy. There's really nothing more to it than that," Goyette said.