BALTIMORE — U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) released the following statement after the Trump Administration’s Departments of Justice and Education reversed Title IX guidance supporting transgender students. 

“As adults, we have a basic responsibility to ensure that no child should ever be fearful of going to school or discriminated against when in the classroom. Today’s withdrawal of civil rights protections afforded to transgender students under Title IX by the Departments of Education and Justice is a tragic step backwards for these children. It is alarming that the primary enforcers of federal civil rights protections for students have chosen to turn their back on some of the most vulnerable children in our classrooms. Regardless of a student’s zip code, they deserve a safe learning environment where they are able to reach their full academic potential.

“As with other rushed decisions from the Trump Administration, it may have been helpful to think through the repercussions of their actions prior to releasing such a harmful directive. I wish the Trump Administration would have considered the mental and physical wellbeing of the transgender students being targeted by this action rather than appeasing his political base.”

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