Washington, DC—Today, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) will join civil rights advocates and student survivors of sexual violence for a meeting with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, amid troubling signals that the Administration may seek to weaken Title IX protections for survivors. NCTE's 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 47% of transgender adults had experienced sexual assault in their lifetime, including 10% in the prior year.
The meeting will focus on guidance issued by the Department in 2011 and 2014, which outlines institutions’ responsibilities when addressing reports of sexual violence. The guidance also recognizes that federal law prohibits harassment and other discrimination targeting transgender students. In recent months, Administration officials have expressed interest in rolling back this guidance, similar to its recent withdrawal of 2016 guidance for schools on transgender students. Education officials have met, repeatedly, with groups and individuals who believe current Title IX standards and enforcement provide too much protection to survivors, including fringe hate groups.
NCTE Director of Policy Harper Jean Tobin, who will attend today’s meeting, released the following statement:
“We are sending a clear message to the Trump Administration: listen to survivors. It is troubling that this is the first time Secretary DeVos will meet with sexual assault survivors and their advocates; yet one meeting with a small group of survivors is not enough to understand this serious and complex issue. The Secretary should meet with survivors—including LGBT survivors—around the country before even considering changes to longstanding guidance and protections.
Withdrawing the 2011 guidance would send a message to schools, students and families that the educations of student survivors of sexual violence, and transgender students, don't count. Title IX simply exists to ensure that all students have an equal chance at an education, and that schools respond to gender-based harassment, violence and discrimination. Current Title IX standards have helped a great many students. Transgender students and their families will be watching what the Trump Administration does, and will hold them accountable.”
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