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Education
superintendent Carey Wright said in a statement that her
department would "follow the lead of state leadership and take
no action at this time."
The department previously said it intended to follow the
non-binding guidance issued to U.S. schools by the Obama
administration last week. In a statement on Friday, the
department said "a safe and caring school environment is
critical to a student’s ability to learn and achieve."
In response, Mississippi Republican Governor Phil Bryant urged
state education officials to disregard the guidance, which comes
at a time of escalating tension over the civil rights of
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.
"Because these decisions are better left to the states, and not
made at the point of a federal bayonet, Mississippi's public
schools should not participate in the president's social
experiment,” Bryant said in a statement on Friday.
The Obama administration's letter to U.S. schools has received
mixed response. Advocates for transgender students have cheered
the directive, while conservatives have vowed to fight the
administration's position that U.S. laws against sex
discrimination in schools include gender identity.
The debate is especially heated in Mississippi, which recently
passed a law seen as discriminatory to LGBT rights, allowing
people to deny wedding services to same-sex couples based on
religious objections. Bryant signed the wide-ranging measure,
calling it necessary to protect religious beliefs. Due to take
effect in July, the law faces a legal challenge.
(Reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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