The Obama administration is telling public schools that they must allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.

(Article by Kxan, republished from http://kxan.com/2016/05/12/obama-admin-to-direct-schools-on-transgender-bathroom-access/)

The directive is in formal guidance being sent to school districts Friday by the departments of Education and Justice.

The letter does not impose any new legal requirements, but federal officials say the guidance is meant to clarify school districts’ obligations to provide students with nondiscriminatory environments.

It comes amid a legal fight between the Justice Department and North Carolina over that state’s law on bathroom use by transgender people. The state and the federal government sued each other on Monday.

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick posted a petition on his website last month to “keep men out of women’s restrooms.”

Patrick blasted businesses like Target, who announced their new bathroom policy allowing transgender people to use bathrooms that don’t coincide with their birth gender. Patrick is asking for other Texans to join him in boycotting these businesses.

“None of these bills allow men into woman’s restrooms,” Chuck Smith, CEO of Equality Texas said. “That is a blatant lie and a misstatement of fact.”

Smith said arguments that transgender people are a threat are bogus, and a Texas law is completely unnecessary.

“Transgender people are more likely to be the victims of an assault than the perpetrator,” Smith said. “I would suggest that these proposed bills that amount to gender policing, are a solution in search of a problem. They simply aren’t needed.”

On May 5, the Austin City Council approved a resolution to look at new policies on how the Austin Police Department identifies a person’s gender.

The discussion over gender identification was sparked after transgender murder victim, Monica Loera, 43, was misidentified as a man. The transgender community said wrongly identifying Monica delayed the news of her death getting to the community. It took a week after her death for media outlets to report that she was mislabeled as a man by police.

Read more at: http://kxan.com/2016/05/12/obama-admin-to-direct-schools-on-transgender-bathroom-access/