The US Government’s controversial ‘transgender bathroom’ directive has been met with widespread opposition since being announced in May.
So far, 23 states have sued the Obama administration for ordering schools to let transsexual pupils use the toilets, changing rooms and showers of their choice, or face serious cuts.
A recent poll reveals that two-thirds of Americans, including a majority of young people, are opposed to the move.
Concerns ignored
Research company WPA found that 66 per cent of American adults oppose or strongly oppose the Government, “forcing schools, businesses, and non-profit organizations to open the showers, changing facilities, locker rooms, and bathrooms designated for women and girls, to biological males and vice versa”.
Commenting on the study, President of the Family Research Council Tony Perkins said: “President Obama has ignored the repeatedly expressed concerns of parents and school officials over the privacy and safety of students”.
“In the pursuit of his radical agenda, the president has trampled upon the boundaries of his constitutional power. If the White House can dictate the policies for every school locker room, shower, and bathroom in America, what could possibly be beyond its reach?”, he added.
Legal challenge
As well as opposition from numerous states, the directive was challenged in the US Supreme Court by a Virginia county school board earlier this month.
President Obama has ignored the repeatedly expressed concerns of parents and school officials over the privacy and safety of students
The Supreme Court heard the case of Gloucester County School Board, which is seeking to prevent a biologically female student from using the boys’ toilets in her school.
Lawyers representing the Board stressed that for decades, “schools have structured their facilities and programs around the sensible idea that in certain intimate settings men and women may be separated”, adding that the new requirement “turns that longstanding expectation upside down”.
Sanctions
At the same time it issued the order on schools’ policy, the Obama administration told healthcare providers to carry out sex-change treatment and surgery or face sanctions.
Ken Klukowski, legal editor at Breitbart News and a lawyer with First Liberty Institute, said the Obama administration is “forcing their rejection of biological fact onto people whose faith teaches that ‘man’ and ‘woman’ refer to what they have meant for thousands of years, and that God purposefully created them that way”.