RI Attorney General Neronha on defending the rights of trans students

"...we will do everything we can do to ensure that [transgender students] are learning in a safe, inclusive environment," said the Attorney General.

Steve Ahlquist: I've been covering these anti-trans extremists visiting school committees across the state...

Attorney General Neronha: I'm on your email list.

Steve Ahlquist: Nice! School committees in North Smithfield, Foster-Glocester, and Westerly are getting a lot of pressure to ignore the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE)’s Transgender, Gender Diverse, and Transitioning Student policy and to reject the guidelines around Title IX. My question is, as Attorney General, can you tell these communities anything about your ability to help defend against possible lawsuits, were these communities to be sued?

Attorney General Neronha: There's a difference between defending a city or town that is sued, which is frankly challenging for us to do, as opposed to when a state agency gets sued. Let's say RIDE got sued. That would be a very different scenario. We would certainly defend RIDE on this score, and others, if they asked us to. RIDE does a lot of their own representation, but we would certainly help if we were asked, and in fact, we would do more than wait for them to ask. We would offer.

I will say, more broadly, that I and the office are committed to ensuring that every student - that means every student - has the right to learn in a way that protects their rights, and that includes the LGBTQ+ community. I don't want to say more than that because I don't want to forecast what we might or might not do, but those children and their parents should take some comfort that we will do everything we can do to ensure that they are learning in a safe, inclusive environment.