Battling on the new frontier: trans rights

by Austin Stallings
Journalism Intern

President Obama is making time for the transgender community in the last year of his presidency.

According to Politico, the Obama administration is expected in coming weeks to aggressively reinforce its position that transgender student rights are fully protected under federal law.

The legal protections include providing transgender students with not just access to bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity but also affording them protections from bullying, harassment and sexual violence, and a right to privacy concerning their transgender status and transition.

This all comes in the midst of the Justice Department’s battle with North Carolina over HB2, the administration plans to reaffirm its view that robust protections for transgender students are within the existing scope of Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities.

A storm is brewing around Title IX, and some believe that it is headed towards a legal battle that may possibly end up being argued in front of the Supreme Court.

“It’s important to recognize that there’s a lagging legal framework in the face of rapidly changing social norms,” said National School Boards Association General Counsel Francisco Negrón. “Our understanding of gender identity is changing, and the law hasn’t kept up.”

“Certainly that’s the case here with Title IX,” he added. “The lack of specificity about gender identity in the law creates all kinds of room for folks on both sides of this issue to make arguments about how the law should be taken.”

As transgender rights continue to be at the center of American politics, it is to be assumed that the Supreme Court will start hearing cases regarding the constitutionality bathroom bills and other measures taken by state and local governments.

The Gayly- 5/8/2016 @ 11:50 a.m. CDT