WASHINGTON — New federal rules on school bathrooms are designed to protect transgender students from bullying, President Obama said Monday.
"Anybody who has been in school, in high school, who has been a parent should realize that kids who are sometimes in the minority — kids who have a different sexual orientation or are transgender — are subject to
a lot of bullying, potentially," Obama told the web site Buzzfeed Monday.
It was his first public comment on the issue since the Department of Education announced the new guidelines last Friday.
"They are vulnerable, and I think it’s part of our obligation as a society to make sure everybody is treated fairly, and our kids are all loved and protected, and that their dignity is affirmed," he said.
The new guidelines require schools to allow transgender students to use the restroom and locker rooms that correspond to their chosen gender. And by invoking the sex discrimination law known as Title IX, the rules carry with them the threat of federal enforcement — including a loss of federal education funds. A number of state-level Republican officials have called the move federal overreach that violates the right of each state to determine education policy
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