President Trump exercised his executive authority on Wednesday to rescind protections for transgender students that allowed them to use whatever bathroom corresponded with their gender identity.  To do this, he had to overrule his own education secretary, which put his administration in somewhat of a culture war.

Top officials from the Justice Department and the Education Department joined forces to write a letter rejecting the Obama administration’s policy on the nondiscrimination laws and supporting the rollback of the policy. They explained their belief that the directive was improperly devised, “without due regard for the primary role of the states and local school districts in establishing educational policy.”

This dispute is putting the President in the middle of transgender rights issues, which he expressed his general sympathy for during the campaign. This is an issue that continues to split the republican party and the nation.

Despite his personal sympathies, though, the President has made it clear that he believes this should be a states rights issue. Keeping the federal government in its proper place is another issue that Trump promised to address during his time in office, and he seems to be keeping his promise.

The Washington Examiner reported that White House press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed that the President wants to leave this to the states to decide: “It’s a state’s rights issue, and that’s entirely what he believes,” Spicer said. “If a state wants to pass a rule or a law … that’s their right. But, it shouldn’t be the federal government getting in the way of this.”

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has resisted this change in the past, saying that she is uncomfortable pushing an issue that could bring harm to transgender students.

Via The New York Times: “Ms. DeVos’s unease was evident in a strongly worded statement she released on Wednesday night, in which she said she considered it a “moral obligation” for every school in America to protect all students from discrimination, bullying and harassment.

Gay rights protesters have come out en mass to chant and protest for their rights to use the bathroom of their choice. Thankfully President Trump remains steadfast in his mission to restore order to public schools.

(Source: New York Times)

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