Giving Compass' Take:

• LGBTQ students face discrimination as the Education Department rolls back Obama-era rules intended to protect transgender students. 

• How can philanthropy help fill the leadership role abdicated by the federal government? How can state and local governments work to protect LGBTQ students?

• A report shows that LGBTQ acceptance has decreased in America. 

The U.S. Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos has recently taken steps to walk back the agency’s role in protecting the civil rights of LGBTQ students. In multiple congressional appearances, for example, DeVos has consistently declined to say that the department will protect LGBTQ students from discrimination. Further, the agency decided this past fall to rescind the Obama administration’s Title IX guidance regarding transgender students.

While these recent policy decisions affect transgender students in particular, these actions combined with DeVos’s testimony leave the impression that the department is taking a hands-off approach toward enforcing federal civil rights laws as they pertain to LGBTQ students.

The Department of Education’s current approach toward its enforcement role is a concern, particularly given new evidence from a recent nationally representative survey of LGBTQ adults. This survey shows that many LGBTQ people report and perceive discrimination in school settings, both at the K-12 levels and in higher education.

Read the full article about LGBTQ students facing discrimination by Logan Casey and Elizabeth Mann at Brookings.