Human Rights Campaign Slams Trump Ed Department Move to Stop Critical Anti-Bullying Data Collection

WASHINGTON - In response to reports that the Department of Education has stopped tracking critical data to prevent bullying of LGBTQ+ students, the following statement may be attributed to Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign:

"If there was even a shadow of a doubt, this latest move by the Trump administration makes it abundantly clear they do not care about the safety of LGBTQ+ students, and trans students in particular. These are adults who should be protecting our kids. And instead, they are making sure bullying and harassment are not tracked. If they are not tracked, bullying and harassment cannot be prevented or stopped - which is exactly what the Trump administration wants. Parents deserve to know their kids are safe at school, and every single young person deserves dignity and safety at school. Anything less is plain evil."

While the Trump administration continues to try and bully schools out of protecting LGBTQ+ students, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Welcoming Schools program - the nation's most comprehensive, bias-based bullying prevention program - continues to provide LGBTQ+ and gender inclusive professional development training, lesson plans, booklists and resources specifically designed for Pre K - 12 educators and youth-serving professionals. Through this nearly two decades of outreach, HRC reaches nearly 750,000 students - work that will only become more critical in the absence of leadership from Washington.

Since returning to office, the Trump administration has made it its mission to bully LGBTQ+ students and the educators who support them:

• On January 29, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order that attempts to dictate to students, their parents, and educators what they can read, learn, say, and who they can be.
• The administration has repeatedly threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that support transgender students.
• The administration's dismantling of the Dept. of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has left students who are the subject of discrimination or harassment without federal recourse.