Testifying Wednesday before the House Education and Labor Committee Betsy DeVos said she knew one of her very first acts as Secretary of Education could greatly harm transgender students, but she did it anyway.
In February of 2017 Secretary DeVos announced she was rescinding guidance (and telling schools to ignore the law) created by the Obama administration designed to protect the civil rights of transgender students, while helping schools and parents understand best practices surrounding their needs.
“We know that transgender students are frequently bullied and victimized,” U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) told Sec. DeVos. “We know, also, that the 2016 guidance to schools about transgender students was applauded by education experts, healthcare experts, educators, counselors, pediatricians, psychologists – because it made students safer at school,” Bonamici explained.