-Transgender Americans.
Are you keeping up on that?
-We're looking at it.
We have a lot of different --
-Looking at redefining?
-Concepts right now.
They have a lot
of different things
happening with respect
to transgender, right now.
You know that as well as I do,
and we're looking
at it very seriously.
-But what about the promise
to protect LGBT community?
-I'm protecting everybody.
You know what I'm doing?
I'm protecting everybody.
-Reports of a move by the Trump
administration to consider
narrowly defining gender through
a strictly biological framework
determined by
a person's genitals at birth,
has put the transgender
community on edge.
But what would this narrow
legal definition
actually mean in the long run?
-What this seems to be,
and remember,
we haven't seen the memo yet,
but what it seems to be
is an effort
to unify the federal government
in an interpretation
that transgender people
do not have any,
any legal rights to justify
why they haven't been enforcing
the federal laws
that they are required
to enforce.
-Activists like Mara Keisling,
see this as an alarming
but not all that
surprising development.
The Trump administration
has been rolling back
Obama-era protections
for transgender people.
In February 2017 --
the government revoked
a rule under Title IX
that allowed transgender
students to use bathrooms,
locker rooms
and other facilities
that correspond
with their gender identity.
Its also attempted to ban
transgender troops
from serving in the military.
-Sir, why did you decide
to announce
the transgender ban reversal,
are you betraying a community
that you pledged to support?
-No, no.
Look I have great respect
for the [transgender] community.
I think I have great support
or I've had great support
from that community.
I got a lot of votes.
As you know it's been
a very complicated issue
for the military.
It's been a very confusing issue
for the military,
and I think I'm doing
the military a great favor.
-It's important to understand
first,
that this administration
has been abdicating
its responsibilities
to enforce federal law.
They've been refusing to enforce
Title IX
education discrimination.
Title VII employment
discrimination.
There's anti-discrimination
provisions
in the Affordable Care Act
that they've been refusing to
enforce for transgender people.
-A further change would affect
the estimated 1.
4 million Americans who identify
as transgender.
