By overturning this nondiscrimination protection, the Trump administration claims it’s protecting children — not from bullies or menacing adults, but from their own peers. I know how messy things can get when adults overstep their boundaries and insert themselves — their politics, their fears, their prejudices, their ignorance — into the lives of young people. I was in the seventh grade when I first began to identify as trans and express my gender identity as a girl. It’s adults like those in the Trump administration who don’t realize the consequences of pitting young people against one another, encouraging some to be bullies and turning others into sinister objects. When trans students are told that they cannot use public facilities, it doesn’t only block them from the toilet — it also blocks them from public life.

Source: New York Times February 23, 2017 20:48 UTC