Dear Editor:

Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center is committed to advocating for safe learning environments for all youth. Today’s shameful action by President Trump, Attorney General Sessions, and Education Secretary DeVos is deliberate in its attempt to undermine the safety, health, and education of transgender youth. Their mean-spirited revocation of President Obama’s Title IX guidance on transgender inclusion puts students at risk for mental and physical health challenges and lower academic performance and it means that school districts will need to develop their own policies to protect students in their schools.

We call on every school district superintendent and school principal in the Lehigh Valley to ensure that transgender students in their care are treated with dignity and respect, offered equal and safe learning environments, and are provided with access to restroom and locker room facilities in accordance with their gender identity.

Any Lehigh Valley school district leader that chooses to do otherwise joins President Trump in shamefully undermining the health and education of their students. Despite what President Trump, Attorney General Sessions and Education Secretary DeVos have done to undermine the health, safety, and education of transgender youth, transgender youth deserve to know that their school district leadership stand by them, support their legal rights, and will continue to comply with the spirit of the Obama-era guidance.

Adrian Shanker

Executive director

Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center