Joe Biden has vowed to reverse a previous Trump Administration decision revoking an Obama-era rule that allowed self-identified transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms of their choosing, as reported by Fox News.
The Trump Administration action had reversed an extension of Title IX protections implemented by Obama, which permitted transgender students to use such facilities based on their “chosen” gender, rather than the genders that they biologically are. The decision had been widely supported by students and parents who feared predatory behavior from such students, especially male students who identified as transgender simply as an excuse to use girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms.
The Obama-era rule had also been criticized as an example of federal overreach. After the Trump Administration’s reversal of this rule, it was left up to the individual states to make the final decision on whether or not to allow such students into facilities of their choice; with the rule set to be re-implemented, all 50 states must follow the federal government’s guidance.
The planned move is one of many executive orders and decisions that Biden plans to make for the specific purpose of undoing many of President Trump’s actions, after his core campaign message was to simply be the opposite of President Trump, and vowed a return to Obama-era policies.