Image source: Pixabay
Apple isn’t on good terms with Trump, and it’s been obvious to all. Now it has become the first tech company to express displeasure with Trump’s decision to repeal the guidelines around transgender bathroom use in public schools.
In a statement to Recode, Apple said, “We support efforts toward greater acceptance, not less, and we strongly believe that transgender students should be treated as equals.”
Trump differs from Obama
Last year, then-President Barack Obama introduced guidelines that encouraged public schools to allow students to use the bathroom corresponding with the gender they identify with. Any school that failed to comply with the guidelines might have ended up losing public funding. Now Trump has revoked those guidelines, and Apple disagrees with the decision.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
@media (max-width: 600px) {
#admobil {
display:none;
}
#adpost {
display:inline-block;
width:300px !important;
height:250px;
}
}
@media (min-width: 600px) {
#admobil {
display:none;
}
#adpost {
display:inline-block;
width:336px;
height:280px;
}
}
The iPhone maker said, “Apple believes everyone deserves a chance to thrive in an environment free from stigma and discrimination. …We disagree with any effort to limit or rescind their rights and protections.”
Trump, who has a different view on the matter, thinks that decisions on such matters should be left in the hands of the states and public schools, and they should have all the authority to decide, notes 9to5mac. In a joint letter, the Departments of Justice and Education said the directive was issued “without due regard for the primary role of the states and local school districts in establishing educational policy.”
Transgender students should be treated as equals: Apple and Cook
It’s not the first time Apple has spoken against Trump’s decisions. Earlier this year, voicing opposition towards Trump’s immigration rulings, Tim Cook said that Apple simply did not support the policy. Cook also issued a memo to employees in which he wrote that diversity “makes our team stronger.” Furthermore, the iPhone maker was among the few tech companies that filed an amicus brief opposing Trump’s travel ban.
Cook has not made any personal comment on Trump’s pullback of protection for transgender students, but he has strongly advocated for LGBT rights in the past. Not only did Cook call out controversial legislation related to LGBT rights, but he also donated personally to equality campaigns in various states, notes 9to5mac.
Apple also participated in San Francisco’s annual Pride Parade. It even posted a YouTube video of it, in which several Apple employees were seen marching in the parade celebrating gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The company also backed LGBT anti-discrimination legislature at the federal level.
