The US administration has issued guidance directing public schools to let transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity.
A joint letter from the Departments of Education and Justice has gone to schools with guidelines to ensure that “transgender students enjoy a supportive and non-discriminatory school environment”, the Obama administration said.
The federal government's guidance was met with praise from parents of transgender students.
“It's heartbreaking that these kids are losing their lives because they can't be accepted,” Hope Tyler, who has a transgender son at a Raleigh high school, said in reference to suicides among transgender people. “Somebody has to speak for the kids.”
So far 12 states have decried Obama's edict.
