Trans rights are under attack, but so far Rhode Island is safe. We must keep it that way.
Despite the empty bluster of bigots, Rhode Island is considered a safe state with strong protections for transgender rights.
As he did at school committee meetings across Rhode Island last year, anti-trans Christian Nationalist Robert Chiaradio, Jr. is once again demanding that public officials, including Rhode Island’s Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green, end the transgender, gender diverse, and transitioning student policies that protect students from bullying, abuse, and discrimination.
Chiaradio’s renewed attack is in response to a Fox News report that a United States District Judge in Kentucky, Danny Reeves, struck down Biden Administration rules on Title IX. Title IX is civil rights legislation passed in the 70s that prohibits sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funding and covers every public school in the country, more or less. The Judge’s ruling means that the Trump Administration will interpret Title IX in the future.
“The attempted rewriting of Title IX by the Biden administration is illegal,” wrote Chiaradio, using language familiar to anyone who attended a school committee meeting he spoke at in 2024. “Title IX was written to protect women against discrimination based on sex, not men pretending to be women.”
Chiaradio once again threatened a lawsuit if education professionals did not comply with his bigoted demands. But Chiaradio is once more missing an essential point: the Judge’s ruling in Kentucky does not affect the rights of trans students in Rhode Island AT ALL.
I am not minimizing the risks to trans students elsewhere in the country, where anti-trans legislative efforts were reaching a fever pitch even before Trump’s successful reelection. I want to be clear that trans rights are under attack nationally, and the Rhode Island federal delegation’s record on this issue has been mixed in recent months (except Representative Gabe Amo1, who has made two good votes in this area.)
The Kentucky Judge’s ruling is not against any school. The ruling is not against any students. The injunction is not against any teachers, administrators, or school boards. It is against the United States Department of Education (DOE) and the Biden Administration. All the ruling does is prevent the DOE from enforcing the Biden Administration’s interpretation of Title IX. It doesn’t impact states like Rhode Island with pre-existing protections, like those enshrined in RIDE’s policy on Transgender, Gender-Diverse, and Transitioning students.
This injunction does not relate to Rhode Island State law. Rhode Island has protections against discrimination in schools, and RIDE’s guidance, based on State Law, is still in place.
Title IX is a floor, not a ceiling. It establishes the minimum you must do to protect against discrimination. Schools can do more to protect students - and are required to do more under Rhode Island State Law.
It’s also important to remember that with or without these rules, Title IX still protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Neither the Biden nor Trump Administration rules are crucial to that.
Chiaradio’s letter is legally meaningless.
Yes, there is a danger. Trans rights are under attack in this country. President Trump’s recent executive order targeting transgender Americans will make it difficult for people to get passports that are in conformance with their gender identity. Federal transwomen prisoners may be sent to male prisons, putting their safety at extreme risk. Reporter Erin Reed analyzes Trump’s Executive Order here, and I highly recommend reading it. It is scary stuff.
Despite all this turmoil at the Federal level, Rhode Island is considered a safe State with strong protections for transgender rights on Erin Reed’s Adult Trans Legislative Risk Assessment Map.
Every decent Rhode Islander is responsible for keeping it that way.
Representative Gabe Amo voted against the FY25 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) because it included a provision inserted by RepublicanSpeaker Mike Johnson blocking healthcare for the transgender children of military servicemembers. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed, as well as Representative Seth Magaziner all voted in favor of the NDAA. Note that this vote happened before President Trump took office.
Representative Magaziner did better a few weeks later when, along with Representative Amo, he voted against H.R.28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025. That bill mandates that “sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” The bill passed the House and moved to the Senate. Senators Reed and Whitehouse have both declared their opposition to it.
I’ve linked contact information for each member of our Federal Delegation.
not just on trans issues, in general I think RI is now a relatively tolerant state (I have lived in NY, CA, OH, OR, FL for comparisons) with relatively few violent hate crimes, with diverse people elected to office, with virtually all religious communities working together to combat hate and coming together in solidarity after major events (such as the Orlando night club massacre)