WASHINGTON– Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released the following statement after Donald Trump declined this morning to support the Obama Administration’s important announcement that school districts should ensure that transgender students are treated with dignity and allowed equal access to facilities, such as restrooms, consistent with their gender identity.
“Trump’s reckless anti-LGBT suggestion is to turn the clock back decades,” said HRC Senior Vice President of Policy and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof. “Donald Trump’s dangerous bluster would allow governors to bully transgender students and should be deeply alarming to the majority of Americans who support LGBT equality. Here’s the reality, Mr. Trump. Teachers and schools are asking for the federal government’s help because politicians like you and Governor Pat McCrory are putting transgender students at risk. Transgender youth face a heightened risk for bullying, harassment and violence, which is exactly why it is inexcusable that anyone running for president would try to take a pass on protecting all students.
“Hillary Clinton is fighting to advance LGBT equality and for the safety and well-being of all children for decades. Let’s be abundantly clear, she is the candidate who will ensure we not only keep all the gains we’ve made but we continue to progress on the road to equality.”
Trump remains dangerously out of step with the majority of fair-minded Americans who believe that LGBT people should be treated equally under the law. Trump has not only promised to use the Supreme Court to roll back nationwide marriage equality, but he’s supported a bill that would lead to more Kim Davis-style discrimination, and said that he would allow states like North Carolina violate federal civil rights laws.
A survey by the HRC Foundation found that three-quarters of transgender students feel unsafe in school settings. A report by the Williams Institute found that half of transgender adults who were bullied in school had attempted suicide. These startling numbers can only be expected to rise if the North Carolina law, and other similar bills proposed in other states, continue to target these young people.
