Parents of transgender children request meeting with Trump, DeVos, Sessions
The parents of eight transgender children from across the country have requested a meeting with President Trump and key administration officials to discuss the effect of their decision to withdraw federal guidance explaining what the nation’s public schools must do to protect transgender students.
“We are heartbroken and scared about what this means,” the parents said Friday in a letter to Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. “This action exposes transgender students to harassment and discrimination in their own classrooms, places they should feel safe and able to learn.”
A White House spokesman could not immediately say whether Trump had seen the letter, but he said the president has made clear that he’s open to meeting with a variety of people to improve Americans’ lives. An Education Department spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
The letter was signed by parents from Texas, Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Maine and D.C. They are members of the Human Rights Campaign’s Parents for Transgender Equality Council, and many of them have become leading voices in the effort to raise awareness about and advocate for the needs of transgender people.
They include Debi and Tom Jackson, whose daughter Avery appeared on the cover of National Geographic in January, and Ron Ford Jr. and Vanessa Ford, who have written about their daughter, Ellie, in The Washington Post.
“We are continuing to fight,” Ron Ford Jr. said Wednesday, the day Trump withdrew the guidance, at a rally in support of transgender children in front of the White House. Ford’s short speech was captured on video and posted to Facebook. “Everyone needs to be protected in school, in their communities. Just because they rescinded the guidance … doesn’t meant that Parents of transgender children request meeting with Trump, DeVos, Sessions - The Washington Post:
