Mike Pence Affirms That Trump Would Roll Back Obama’s Guidelines On Transgender Student Rights

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade:

Mike Pence has indicated a Donald Trump administration would roll back guidance issued by the Obama administration that prohibits schools from discriminating against transgender students and assuring them access to the restroom consistent with their gender identity.

Pence made the remarks on the day after the vice presidential debate on the “Family Talk Broadcast” hosted by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. The Christian Post, a conservative media outlet, reported on the interview after obtaining an audio file in advance.

Dobson’s question was not just about the guidance, but a rule from the Department of Health & Human Services mandating non-discrimination for transgender people in health care, including transition-related care and gender reassignment surgery, but Pence’s response was focused on the transgender student guidance.

Accusing the administration of overreach, Pence said the trans initiatives demonstrate “there’s no area of our lives too small for them to want to regulate, no aspect of our Constitution too large for them to be willing to ignore.”

“These questions that come up, Donald Trump and I both believe not only can be resolved with common sense at the local level, but they are every single day, working with parents and administrators and teachers,” Pence said.

Trump has also repeatedly vowed to sign the so-called First Amendment Defense Act, which would legalize business discrimination against same-sex couples. Last week Trump sent a letter to Catholic Vote, home of former NOM communications director Thomas Peters, in which he promised to protect Catholics against evil homosexuals.