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Betsy DeVos has ‘thrown out’ civil rights complaints filed by transgender students: report
August 20, 2018 5:36PM ET
Betsy Devos on 60 Minutes/Screenshot
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has "thrown out" formal civil rights complaints filed by students and former students who are transgender, a report at Politico shows. It also appears some if not all of the complaints thrown out were not officially resolved and the victims were not notified. Other cases brought by trans students have been languishing for years.
Politico states that "an examination of federal records by POLITICO shows" that "at least five" complaints "involving transgender students denied bathroom access [were] thrown out by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who has halted such investigations."
Additionally, a transgender student identified as Drake "said his bathroom-related complaint hasn’t been dismissed, but his case has stalled for three years. He doesn’t know why."
The news outlet, "in an attempt to track administration action on bathroom access for transgender students reviewed 107 complaints filed with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights since January 2014."
"All were in connection with transgender students who alleged different treatment, exclusion or a denial of benefits under Title IX — federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs. Among the complaints were at least six involving students who were denied access to bathrooms of their choice and five that were dismissed."
As one of her first acts DeVos infamously in February of 2017 rescinded Obama-era guidance designed to help schools and administrators protect the civil rights of transgender students.
Last week Fast Company revealed that according to Omarosa Manigault Newman's news book, Devos had mocked the intelligence of some of the Black students who protested her commencement speech at a Historically Black University.
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