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The U.S. Department of Education fulfilled President Donald Trump’s pledge to employees late Friday to terminate all programs, contracts and policies that “cannot affirm the reality of biological sex” and limit transgender rights. He said.
The broad language of email did not specify which programs or policies would be affected, or how many schools or students would be affected. However, the order appears to be designed to target programs that support transgender students, such as school-based mental health services and support for homeless students.
“These corrective actions will include the following: “These corrective actions will include the divisional program, contracts, policies, outward media, regulations and internal practices sent to departmental employees and an email obtained by ProPublica. Includes a thorough review and subsequent termination.
A spokesman for the education department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The emails signed and sent from “ED Internal Communications” aim to be an employee program in the education department. Federal employees have already been instructed to remove preferred pronouns from email signatures.
“The resource group of employees that promotes gender ideology and does not assert that the reality of biological sex cannot be met on government property or that it will not take place during official working hours,” the email said. .
It is not clear which resource groups refer to the email, or whether they exist.
The Trump administration has curtailed the transgender rights of other federal agencies. It banned transgender people from serving the military, revived policies from Trump’s first term, and federal prisons attempted to move transgender women to male facilities.
The drastic directive outlined in the Education Division on Friday follows two recent executive orders targeting “gender ideology.” First, “defends women from gender ideological extremism and restores biological truth to the federal government,” ordered federal agencies to scrub references to transgender people from documents, regulations and policies. I did. The department appears to be accommodating the order by removing resources, for example, school tips on how to support homeless LGBTQ+ youth.
This week, another executive order issued “Stop men from women’s sports,” banning trans athletes from participating in women’s sports at schools. The Department of Education on Thursday investigated two universities and athletic associations related to transgender athletes and a violation of Title IX, a federal law that is part of the Civil Rights Act and prohibits gender-based discrimination in education. An investigation into violations of the institutions has been announced. On the same day, the NCAA responded by banning athletes identified as males because they played female sports at birth.
An email sent to employees on Friday afternoon said, “Whether in intimate spaces, weaponized language, or in American classrooms, the intentional conquest of women and girls by gender ideology is something that is a biological woman. denies civil rights and cultivates a sense of distrust among federal agencies.”
Trump’s Secretary of Education candidate Linda McMahon is still waiting for confirmation.
She is the husband of World Wrestling Entertainment, the chairman and co-founder of the American First Policy Institute, and is a nonprofit organization that campaigns against transgender rights in schools.
Without McMahon, like-minded colleagues already work in the department, including several staff members from her conservative think tank. For example, the bio of newly appointed assistant advisor Candice Jackson promotes experiences that “challenge the harmful effects of the concept of “gender identity” in school law and policy.”
The school has experienced whiplash in recent years, as the president imposed and subsequently removed protections for trans young people.
Under President Barack Obama in 2016, the department has given guidance to schools that the federal Title IX Act protects the rights of trans students to use toilets and locker rooms at schools that match gender identity. It has been published.
Schools should “not treat transgender students in a different way than they do to treat other students of the same gender identity,” the letter states.
Trump revoked that guidance after taking office in 2017, but the letter remained on the education department website. In 2021, the Biden administration took the position that transgender students deserve protection from discrimination under Title IX and publish resources for the school and the LGBTQ+ students they serve.
What we see
During Donald Trump’s second presidency, Propovica will focus on areas that need scrutiny. Below are some of the issues reporters watch, and how to safely communicate with them.
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Now that Trump has re-inaugurated, it appears that many of these resource documents have been wiped out from the department’s website.
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“President Trump is a bully. The administration wants to ban kindness and common decency in schools and make it illegal for teachers to call students with names they want to call.” The administration’s “women” Presidential order.
Trump’s vision in his second administration includes completely dismantling the education sector. It is unclear whether there is a legal route to do so, but the administration has already placed over 50 departmental employees on administrative leave, which are related to diversity, equity or inclusive efforts. I think it is.
Concerns have appeared in the education sector all week. Members of Elon Musk’s team reportedly have access to sensitive department data, and some members of Congress went to department headquarters to ask questions about the team, but access was denied . In response to a social media post from one representative blocked from the building, Musk posted to X: “There is no such department in the federal government.”
We continue to report on the U.S. Department of Education. Are you a former or current education employee? Are you a student or school employee affected by the faculty change? You can reach the tip line of the signal on 917-512-0201. Be as specific, detailed and clear as possible.
