INTERVIEW – GERARD ROBINSON – Resident Fellow, Education Policy Studies at American Enterprise Institute and formerly served as COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION FOR the State of FLORIDA and SECRETARY OF EDUCATION for the Commonwealth of VIRGINIA

> Obama administration’s decree to order schools to have transgender bathrooms. Feds issue guidance on transgender access to school bathrooms. (CNN) The Obama administration issued guidance Friday directing public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms matching their gender identity. A joint letter from the Departments of Education and Justice went to schools Friday with guidelines to ensure that “transgender students enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment,” the Obama administration said. The announcement comes amid a heated national debate over transgender rights in schools and public life. The administration is embroiled in a legal standoff with North Carolina over its controversial House Bill 2, part of which has to do with transgender bathroom access. Other states and local governments have attempted to draw lines around rights for transgender people with mixed results. This latest guidance for schools goes beyond the bathroom issue, touching upon privacy rights, education records and sex-segregated athletics, all but guaranteeing transgender students the right to identify in school as they choose. It echoes what members of the administration have previously said on the topic.