BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts officials are decrying the Trump administration’s rollback of federal public school bathroom protections for transgender students.
Gov. Charlie Baker said Thursday he was disappointed with the decision, pointing to state level protections, including a public accommodations bill he signed into law last year guaranteeing transgender people can use restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identities in Massachusetts
“Kids are going to be protected and kids are going to be able to feel safe and secure in the communities they live in and the schools that they go to,” the Republican governor told reporters.
Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey held a press conference Thursday with legislative leaders and families of transgender students.
Healey also pointed to protections for transgender students in Massachusetts, including guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education about creating safe and supportive school environments.
“The Trump administration’s action sends a message that discrimination against vulnerable students is acceptable,” Healey said. “My message to families in Massachusetts and across this country is simple: If the Trump administration won’t protect people’s rights, we will.”
Mimi Lemay, an advocate and parent of a transgender child, called the Trump administration’s actions unwarranted and cruel, saying it “places transgender children in danger because of the discomfort that adults feel about these children’s most deeply held identities.”
Not everyone in Massachusetts supports the state’s transgender rights law.
Opponents, led by the Massachusetts Family Institute, have collected enough voter signatures to put a measure on the 2018 ballot to repeal the law.
Backers of the repeal effort say they’re defending the fundamental rights to privacy and safety, particularly for women and children.
Boston Public Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang said despite the federal action transgender and gender nonconforming students in the Boston Public Schools will remain protected from discrimination, bullying and harassment and continue to use facilities consistent with their gender identity.
U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy released a video message saying the president doesn’t speak for him or for many other officials in Washington and Massachusetts who will continue to push for the protections.
Fellow Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch said the country should be expanding protections against discrimination for students, not rescinding them.
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