The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw federal protections for transgender public school students constitutes poor governance, deficient humanity, and legal ignorance. A “Dear Colleague Letter” from the Departments of Justice and Education dated May 13, 2016 detailed those protections. The Obama administration recognized that transgender students were denied equal access to educational opportunities and did not enjoy civil rights protections available to other students. Discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression violates Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX). The new administration’s decision to abandon the protections endangers transgender students and will do far more harm than good.
In the 2011 National School Climate Survey by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), eight out of ten transgender students said they felt unsafe at school. Nearly six out of ten experienced verbal harassment on account of their gender expression, more than twice the rate of their peers. A recent GLSEN survey in Arizona that included gay and lesbian students along with transgender students reached a similar conclusion. “Schools are still hostile environments for so many of these students,” stated Ricardo Martinez, Chair of GLSEN Phoenix, “and now more than ever they need our support.”
Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld, a lecturer with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, College of Education and author of several books, including Warren’s Words: Smart Commentary on Social Justice, notes that LGBT youth live a very different life experience from their peers, and not just in the school setting. “For one thing, they live in families who very often do not share their sexual and/or gender identity,” Dr. Blumenfeld wrote in an email message, adding, “I call these ‘diasporic’ identities — we are dispersed within families who are different than us.” “LGBTQ youth live in families with the added fear of ‘coming out’ to others,” wrote Dr. Blumenfeld. “They also suffer significantly higher risks of being bullied and dropping out of school.”
He blames adults more than kids for the harmful experience of transgender youth…
The Eternal Nonsense of the Baseless Claim (of Voter Fraud)
The late Congressman Henry Hyde once said this on the floor of the House of Representatives: “There is a story that goes around in my hometown, Chicago. It says, Bury me when I die in Chicago because I want to stay active in politics after I am gone.” That joke, which dates back at least to political comedian Mort Sahl, has been applied to other jurisdictions as well, including Arizona. It’s a funny line and has the ring of truth, given Chicago’s history of creative political shenanigans. But it’s only a joke.
Or is it? In recent years many Republicans and conservatives have tried to weaponize what should only be a funny line in a malicious attempt to strip away the voting rights of people they fear will support their political rivals. The political right has been flogging the baseless “voter fraud” meme for so long that I usually disregard it as white noise unworthy of a response. But since the most recent example of this lie appeared in the Southern Arizona News Examiner, where this column runs, I owe it to readers to set the record straight.
That article, which originally ran in the Heritage Foundation’s propaganda sheet, The Daily Signal, contains 899 words and zero substance. The author, Washington lawyer Joanne Young, endorsed President Donald Trump’s demand for an investigation into alleged “vote fraud.” She noted Trump’s complaint that some voters are registered in more than one state and some of the names on voter registration rolls are of dead people. This is the same President who declared that “nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.” God knows what he’ll do if someone spills the beans about Santa.
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