Caitlyn Jenner, teen singer appeal to Trump on transgender rights

[February 24, 2017]  By David Ingram

(Reuters) - A teenaged singer with a transgender sister, best known for performing the U.S. national anthem at President Donald Trump's inauguration in January, and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner have both asked to discuss the issue with him.

Jackie Evancho, 16, requested the meeting in a Twitter message late on Wednesday, minutes after the administration revoked landmark guidance to public schools to let transgender students use the bathrooms of their choice.

"I am obviously disappointed in the @POTUS decision to send the #transgender bathroom issue to the states to decide. #sisterlove," she wrote from her account, @jackieevancho.

Trump "gave me the honor" of singing at the inauguration, she added in another tweet. "Pls give me & my sis the honor 2 meet with u 2 talk #transgender rghts."

On Thursday evening former Olympic gold medalist and transgender activist Jenner also weighed in on social media, telling Trump on Twitter that "from one Republican to another, this is a disaster" and asking the president to call her.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer, asked at a briefing if Trump would meet with Evancho, said the president would welcome a meeting with her.

As of Thursday evening, more than 10,000 Twitter users had liked the request by Evancho, a classical crossover singer who rose to fame on the TV show "America's Got Talent."

Evancho was the first performer announced for Trump's inauguration ceremony, an event that a number of other entertainers shunned because of the president's views.

Trump, a Twitter user, has not responded to the request, Evancho said on Thursday during an appearance with her sister, Juliet, on ABC's "Good Morning America."

 Caitlyn Jenner poses at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in Los Angeles, California U.S. on November 14, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo

"I just want to enlighten him on what my sister - I've seen her go through every single day in school," she said.

Juliet Evancho, a high school senior, said the president needed to know about the threats facing students who identify as a gender other than the one with which they were born.

"I've had things thrown at me," she said. "I've had people say pretty horrible things, and the unsafe environment is just very unhealthy."

The Evancho family is suing Juliet's Pittsburgh-area school district over her right to use women's bathrooms.

The Trump administration's action on Wednesday reversed a signature initiative of former president Barack Obama, whose Justice and Education departments had threatened to withhold funding for schools that did not comply with its guidance.

(Reporting by David Ingram in New York; Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton and Eric Beech in Washington and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Lisa Shumaker)

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