NEWS

DeWine: I'll fight Obama on school bathroom rules

Carl Weiser
cweiser@enquirer.com
Ohio State Attorney General Mike DeWine addresses the media in a press conference in Piketown, Ohio, on Friday, April 22, 2016. Officials arrived to multiple homes on Union Hill where eight members of the Rhoden family were found dead, victim of gun shot wounds in what was described as "execution style" shootings.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said Friday he will "vigorously fight" the Obama administration over its rules ordering schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity.

DeWine, a Republican running for Ohio governor in 2018, released a statement Friday calling Obama's rules - announced May 13 - "astonishing."

"If the Obama Administration takes action to remove these decisions from Ohio parents and local schools, I will vigorously fight against such overreach," DeWine said in the statement. "As our state’s Attorney General, I don’t determine local school policies on these issues – but neither should federal bureaucrats or the President of the United States."

The so-called "guidance"  from leaders at the departments of Education and Justice says public schools are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, even if their education records or identity documents indicate a different sex.

Ohio is not one of the states that joined a lawsuit this week fighting the rules.

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin also said earlier this month he will fight any efforts to enforce the rules. 

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Here is DeWine's full statement:

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today issued the following statement regarding the recent Obama Administration “guidance” letter on the issue of school facilities and issues of gender identity:

"This threat made by federal bureaucrats to nationalize and politicize the way schools address gender identity issues down to the level of school locker rooms and bathrooms is astonishing.  Congress has not changed the law – and no 'guidance' from federal officials can do what Congress has declined to do. 

"Our local schools across Ohio are best suited to work out how to advance the dignity and privacy interests of all students regarding matters of locker rooms and students’ gender identity.  There are many questions that, consistent with constitutional guarantees, are best left to the fair-minded, sensible determinations of our local communities.  Under our system of government, how schools work to handle locker room questions involving students’ gender identity is one such issue.

"If the Obama Administration takes action to remove these decisions from Ohio parents and local schools, I will vigorously fight against such overreach.  As our state’s Attorney General, I don’t determine local school policies on these issues – but neither should federal bureaucrats or the President of the United States."

In addition, Attorney General DeWine sent a letter today to the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice.  A copy can be accessed here.