New Federal Transgender Guidance: What You Need to Know

17 May 2016 - REPRINTED with Permission

The Departments of Education and Justice released joint guidance last Friday to help educational institutions—colleges and universities, as well as PreK-12 schools—understand their responsibilities to serve transgender students. With the assistance of Hogan Lovells US LLP, we have put together a brief summary of the guidance document issued by the federal agencies.

Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, institutions receiving federal money may not discriminate based on a student's sex, including a student’s transgender status. The joint guidance provides definitions for its use of the terms “gender identity” and “transgender.” Our summary provides examples of policies that define these and other relevant terms, including terms used to account for the diverse ways in which individual students may wish to express their gender identity. The guidance materials—a Dear Colleague Letter and a Policies and Practices document—are directed to institutions “at all educational levels, including school districts, colleges, and universities,” although the Policies and Practices document focuses on elementary and secondary schools.

Our issue brief looks at select aspects of the guidance and answers possible questions campuses may have, such as how institutions must refer to transgender students; whether and how to provide sex-segregated facilities to transgender students; and more. The issue brief is intended as general guidance only, and does not constitute legal advice.