Obama Administration Tells Schools To Treat Trans Kids Like People, Furor And Whining To Ensue

Here's Yer Sign

In a shocking shock to all easily shocked people everywhere, the Obama administration will send a letter to all public school districts in our once-great land directing them to chill the fuck out and let kids use the restroom that matches their gender identity, jeez would you all just grow up about this already? The New York Times has all the panic fodder:

The declaration -- signed by Justice and Education department officials -- will describe what schools should do to ensure that none of their students are discriminated against.

It does not have the force of law, but it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

And America is dead, one more time. The administration says it's sending the letter after receiving inquiries from many school districts asking for guidance, following the furor over the North Carolina Restroom Panic. Get ready for plenty of freakouts and hyperventilation from the Usual Suspects over the difficult concept that "equal" equals equal. Especially when Barack Obama is fanning the flames with statements from outrageous extremists like this:

“No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus,” John B. King Jr., the secretary of the Department of Education, said in a statement. “We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence.”

But what about the rights of people who think it's icky? Don't they count for anything? The letter specifies schools

may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so.

Yes, even if other students or parents think it's an abomination unto the Lord, or are merely squicked out by those people. The letter even emphasizes that point, perhaps just to rub it in (or clarify the legal reasoning, which is exactly the same thing):

As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others’ discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students.

Public schools would have to provide appropriate access to restroom facilities as soon as a student's parent or legal guardian notifies the school that the kid's gender identity "differs from previous representations or records," and would not require a birth certificate, note from a doctor, or vision from God. Expect this detail to be completely ignored by idiots who fret that hulking high school boys will suddenly insist on going into the girls' locker room because they decide one day that they feel girly.

The letter goes on to say schools are free to make other arrangements, like individual stalls or curtains in changing rooms, to student who want "additional privacy," but that's optional, not required. Again, this isn't likely to satisfy many of the pearl-clutchers who worry that the very existence of a trans kid is cause to reach for the pepper spray. 

The letter will be accompanied by a helpful 25-page guide for schools to help them create policies which will comply with civil rights law, particularly Title IX, that treats gender identity as equivalent to "sex" in statutory terms. The document will describe

“emerging practices” that are in place in many schools around the country. Those included installing privacy curtains or allowing students to change in bathroom stalls.

In other words, tyranny and a complete lack of regard for the rights of Christians.

Yr Wonkette will stay on top of this story as it results in hyperbole, emotional meltdowns, and fervent declarations that Barack Obama has finally revealed himself as the antichrist.

[ NYT ]