Mayor Murray issues statement denouncing Trump’s attack on transgender rights

Today, Mayor Ed Murray issued the following statement in response to the Trump administration’s announcement reversing the Obama administration’s legal guidance to allow transgender students to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity:

“The bullying coming from the White House reached even more alarming levels today when the Trump administration specifically began targeting school kids. By rescinding federal guidance from the Department of Education to stand up for Title IX protections allowing transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity, the new administration is sending a message that it no longer respects individual rights and ratcheting up the fear among marginalized communities.”

For the for the last 11 years, Washington state law has protected our transgender students. The 2006 passage of the Anderson-Murray Act, which Mayor Murray co-sponsored when he was a state legislator, specifically protects transgender people from discrimination in public accommodations.

In the last two years, Mayor Murray has helped advance rights and protections for Seattle’s transgender community. In 2015, he passed legislation requiring all City-controlled and privately operated places of public accommodation to designate existing and future single-stall restrooms as all-gender facilities.

And last year, Mayor Murray signed an executive order that, among other actions, instructed Seattle’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to develop uniform guidance and trainings for front-line City staff, such as police officers, on how to best continue providing safe and inclusive spaces for all residents, including transgender and gender-diverse people.

“Unlike the Trump administration, Seattle is committed to expanding rights—not undoing them,” Mayor Murray said. “As the new administration continues to assault civil liberties, we will stand up for all students in Seattle schools. We will also stand by court precedent.”