Washington, D.C. — Center for American Progress Executive Vice President for External Affairs Winnie Stachelberg issued the following statement in response to a lawsuit filed by 11 states against guidance from the U.S. departments of Education and Justice instructing schools to ensure that transgender students are treated equally in educational environments, which includes the ability to access facilities consistent with their gender identities.
Once again, a handful of politicians have decided to waste taxpayer funds in a mean-spirited attempt to undermine and rescind life-saving protections for all students and workers, including transgender people. The recent guidance from the departments of Education and Justice reflects years of legal precedents holding that transgender people are protected from discrimination under existing federal laws. The callousness of these politicians in the pursuit of hurting vulnerable kids is almost as startling as the hateful and harmful educational environments they seek to create and foster. The attorneys general behind this lawsuit should be seeking to defend and protect the vulnerable in this country rather than rehashing tired, discriminatory arguments meant to roll back protections and legalize discrimination.
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