Advocacy group says RI schools’ transgender policy puts federal funding at risk

• The R.I. Center for Freedom & Prosperity is demanding the Rhode Island Department of Education rescind its policy protecting transgender students from discrimination.
• The center argues that the policy, based on the recognition of gender identity, contradicts a Trump-era executive order asserting the existence of only two sexes.
• They claim this discrepancy puts schools at risk of civil rights violations, federal funding loss and lawsuits.

PROVIDENCE – An advocacy group is demanding the Rhode Island Department of Education rescind its long-standing policy on the protection of transgender students from discrimination in light of President Donald Trump’s executive order stating there are only two sexes.

The letter from the R.I. Center for Freedom & Prosperity asserts that “the RI Department of Education [RIDE] has placed itself and every member school district in this State at risk of civil rights violations, which are likely [to] lead to investigations by the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, loss of federal funding, and/or discrimination lawsuits from aggrieved individuals.”

Bottom line: RIDE’s lawyers reject the arguments that lawyer Gregory Piccirilli made in his letter to state Education Commissioner Angélica Infante Green on behalf of the advocacy group, which views the state’s stance on transgender rights as a large issue.

What are the complaints against the policy?

“This is an issue of grave concern for … thousands of parents across our state,” the center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse, said Thursday. The fact the most, if not all have “adopted RIDE’s recommended guidelines … puts RIDE and every one of those school districts at serious legal and financial risk.”

The group is chaired by Stephen Skoly. the Cranston dentist who defied Rhode Island’s COVID vaccine mandate during the pandemic and ultimately sued for the right to see patients again. Former state GOP Chair Giovanni Ciccione is also on the board.

What is RIDE’s policy on transgender rights?

Stepping back, RIDE’s long-standing policy was designed to protect students “from discrimination and harassment based on their gender identity and expression. The policy also ensures that students have access to safe and supportive learning environments.”

Titled “Protection for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students,” it says, in part:

“Programs and activities operated by Rhode Island public educational agencies shall be free from discrimination based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. By July 1, 2018, each local education agency shall adopt a policy addressing the rights of transgender and gender non-conforming students to a safe, supportive and non-discriminatory school environment.”

Piccirilli, in his letter, contends there is no basis in state law for the regulation.

Beyond that, he cited the executive order Trump signed on his first day in office under the heading: “DefendingWomen from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

Summarizing, Piccirill said Trump ordered all agencies within the executive branch to enforce all laws that “promote [the] reality” that there are “two sexes, male and female,” and that “[t]hese sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”

Two weeks later, he said, the U.S. Department of Education sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to K-12 schools and institutions of higher education advising them that the “Office for Civil Rights” intends to enforce a Trump administration interpretation of Title IX that bans “recipients of federal funds to issue policies prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “gender identity.”

The response from R.I. Department of Education spokesman Victor Morente: The regulations the center is challenging “have been adopted by the R.I. Council on Elementary and Secondary Education as well as by every school district in Rhode Island.” They are “supported by both state and federal law and will be enforced until the Rhode Island General Assembly and/or the U.S. Congress changes the applicable law.”He said every R.I. school district has a policy and most, if not all, are posted.

The state’s policy has gone through several iterations, but it began with this statement of principle: “All students need a safe and supportive school environment to progress academically and developmentally. … The purpose of this guidance is to foster an educational environment that is safe and free from discrimination for allstudents, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”