Trump administration working on trans bathroom guidelines

In this May 17, 2016 file photo, a new sticker is placed on the door at the ceremonial opening of a gender neutral bathroom at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle.
In this May 17, 2016 file photo, a new sticker is placed on the door at the ceremonial opening of a gender neutral bathroom at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration is working on a new set of directives on the use of school bathrooms by transgender students, the White House said Tuesday.

The announcement alarmed LGBT groups across the country who have urged President Donald Trump to safeguard Obama-era guidelines allowing students to use school restrooms that match their gender identity, not their assigned gender at birth.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer did not provide any details on the new guidelines being prepared by the Justice Department, but said Trump has long held such matters should be left to the states, not the federal government, to decide.

"I think that all you have to do is look at what the president's view has been for a long time, that this is not something the federal government should be involved in, this is a states' rights issue," Spicer said.

The guidance, issued by the Obama administration in May, held transgender students can access restrooms and participate in school athletic teams according with the gender they identify with. Schools were also instructed to treat students in line with their expressed gender identity without requiring any medical proof.

While the move was hailed by rights organizations, it was attacked by conservative groups, which called it federal overreach and an infringement on the personal space and safety of all other students.

The National Center for Transgender Equality said Tuesday that even without former President Barack Obama's guidelines, federal law - called Title IX - would still prohibit discrimination against students based on their gender or sexual orientation. Still, rescinding those directives would put children in harm's way, the group said.

"Such clear action directed at children would be a brazen and shameless attack on hundreds of thousands of young Americans who must already defend themselves against schoolyard bullies, but are ill-equipped to fight bullies on the floors of their state legislatures and in the White House," NCTE said in a statement.

However, Ryan Anderson, a senior research fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the Obama guidelines were unlawful because Title IX protects students based on their sex, not their gender identity. He also said those directives violated the rights of other students, especially girls who may have suffered from sexual abuse in the past and do not want to be exposed to male anatomy. "It's understandable when a 16-year-old girl might not want an anatomical male in the shower or the locker room," Anderson said.

He said students, parents and teachers should work out "win-win" solutions at the local level, such as equipping schools with single-occupancy restrooms or locker rooms or allowing students to access the faculty lounge.

"We can find a way in which the privacy and safety of transgender students is respected while also respecting the privacy and safety of all other students," Anderson said.

Approximately 150,000 youth - 0.7 percent- between the ages of 13 and 17 in the United States identify as transgender, according to a study by The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.