When we (allies included) in the LGBT community talk about where to focus when working to protect our rights and to continue to fight for the rights denied us, we often talk about the Supreme Court; about local, state, and federal elections; or about equal protection from law enforcement. But right now our community must place its focus on an area that hasn't traditionally attracted the attention that it deserves: education policy. With billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos at the helm of the Department of Education, we must waste no time in educating ourselves on the many ways DeVos' agency affects the lives of LGBT students �" and then we must move immediately into mobilizing to demand for the full protection of those students.
LGBT youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than straight youth, according to the Trevor Project. The Obama administration took the mental health and physical dangers faced by LGBT youth seriously. The administration proved that by issuing guidance to schools and universities to stress the ways in which civil rights laws apply to bullying, and also by making sure Title IX clearly applies to transgender students and their right to choose their bathrooms. In other words, education policy matters �" really matters �" in the lives of LGBT youth. [The Trump Justice and Education departments recently rescinded that guidance.]
DeVos is now in a position in which she could theoretically turn back gains for LGBT youth won in the realm of education with a stroke of her pen. We don't yet know whether she has plans to make such a move, but certain aspects of her background and positions are of concern to members of the LGBT community and their allies. DeVos was listed on tax forms as the vice president of her mother's foundation, the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, from 1999 to 2014. The connection raised flags because of that foundation's generous donation to Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, and other groups that aren't shy in their opposition for gay rights. During her confirmation hearing, DeVos denied involvement with the foundation, and explained that the inclusion of her name on tax forms for 17 years must have been due to a "clerical error." During her hearing, she insisted that she's "never believed in" the harmful fake-science of conversion therapy, a practice that the groups long supported by the Prince Foundation strongly promote. A recent New York Times article makes the case that DeVos privately holds different beliefs than her anti-LGBT family, but that she's been careful to keep those beliefs private. But this supposed privately held support for LGBT individuals doesn't comfort me. What matters to our youth is that the person in DeVos' role will fight, as hard and as loudly as she needs to, for policy that protects their rights.
We must demand that DeVos states loud and clear that she will protect the rights of all students. As a first step, our community should articulate our specific demands of the new education secretary and her department, so that DeVos understands our asks and so that we will all know when to spring into protest actions once our lines have been crossed. I submit the following as my top asks of the new education secretary: First, we insist that you and your agency be proponents of transgender students and their bathroom choice. Second, we recommend the creation of an LGBT national task force to work with thought leaders, activists, and educators on ways to improve school conditions for LGBT students attending public schools. Such a task force should also be responsible for the creation of national policies that affirm LGBT students as well. Finally, we urge the education department to make a point to recognize public and private schools that are succeeding in creating environments where LGBT students are affirmed. The recognition could take the form of a new national award or showcasing on the department's website.
We have recent inspiration in the civic response happening all around us, and we should feed on that. We will let DeVos know: she will make it a priority to protect our students or we will simply not calm down. If we come together and respond to this call to action by exercising our civic duties, we can turn that feeling into hope, into a chance to stand up and protect a rollback. But if we fail to stand up, what's happening now could push us backward.
Richard Johnson is a professor of public administration at the University of San Francisco. For more information, see http://onlinempadegree.usfca.edu/mpa-degree/faculty/dr-richard-greggory-johnson-iii/.