Obama administration to tell all school districts to allow transgender bathroom access

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last updated 13 May 2016

The Obama administration will send letters to every public school district in the United States on Friday, telling them they have to let transgender students use the bathrooms that match their gender identity, The New York Times reports.

The letters will be signed by officials from the Justice and Education Departments, and will explain what schools must do to make sure students are not discriminated against. The directive does not have the force of law, the Times reports, but schools that do not follow it could get sued and lose federal aid. Although the move comes just days after North Carolina and the Justice Department sued each other over a state law that requires transgender people use the bathroom that corresponds to their biological sex, the Justice Department says it has been working on the letter for the past few months.

Officials from the Justice and Education Departments wrote in a blog post they crafted the letter in response to requests to clarify best practices for the treatment of transgender students, as "schools want to do right by all of their students and have looked to us to provide clarity on steps they can take to ensure that every student is comfortable at their school, is in an environment free of discrimination, and has an opportunity to thrive."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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