Archbishop Charles Chaput speaks during a press conference Oct. 3, 2016 in Philadelphia. (Photo by Sarah Webb)

Archbishop Charles Chaput speaks during a press conference Oct. 3, 2016 in Philadelphia. (Photo by Sarah Webb)

Two Catholic bishops including Archbishop Charles Chaput praised the administration of President Donald Trump for repealing a year-old directive on transgender students, which at the time they called “deeply disturbing.”

The archbishop, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, and Bishop George V. Murry, S.J., of Youngstown, Ohio, chairman of the Committee on Catholic Education, issued a joint statement Feb. 24 on the May 2016 guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education titled “Dear Colleague Letter on Transgender Students.”

The bishops in their statement said they were grateful the administration withdrew the guidance “which had indicated that public pre-K through 12 schools, as well as all colleges and universities, should treat ‘a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex.’”

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The government’s letter “sought to impose a one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with sensitive issues involving individual students,” the bishops wrote. “Such issues are best handled with care and compassion at the local level, respecting the privacy and safety concerns of all students.

“Pope Francis has taught that ‘biological sex and the socio-cultural role of sex (gender) can be distinguished but not separated’ (Amoris Laetitia, no. 56). The Catholic Church consistently affirms the inherent dignity of each and every human person and advocates for the well-being of all people, particularly the most vulnerable.

“Children, youth and parents in these difficult situations deserve compassion, sensitivity and respect,” the bishops concluded. “All of these can be expressed without infringing on legitimate concerns about privacy and security on the part of all young students and parents.”

In rescinding the directive, the Trump administration said that addressing transgender access to bathrooms is best left to the states and local school districts, not the federal government.

The Obama administration said it applied to all public schools as well as colleges and universities that received federal funding. The directive “summarizes a school’s Title IX obligations regarding transgender students,” administration officials said, and that it also explained how the Education and Justice departments will “evaluate a school’s compliance with these obligations.”

The federal Title IX statute prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs and activities, like sports. Some months before issuing the directive, Obama administration had warned schools that denying transgender students access to the facilities and activities of their choice was illegal under its interpretation of federal sex discrimination laws.

Officials at the Justice and Education departments in the Trump administration rejected the previous administration’s position that nondiscrimination laws require schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice.

That directive, they said, was arbitrary and devised “without due regard for the primary role of the states and local school districts in establishing educational policy.”

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Catholic News Service in Washington contributed to this story.