Jackie Evancho Hopes To Meet With President Trump This Month Over Transgender Issues
PITTSBURGH (NewsRadio 1020 KDKA) - Local singing sensation Jackie Evancho says she hopes to meet with President Trump soon to discuss transgender issues.
Evancho tells the KDKA Morning news she hopes to discuss protecting the rights of transgender students like her sister Juliette.
"I'm going to try to level with him on, first off the things that my sister has gone through, the things that people like my sister have gone through and the horrors of it all," says Evancho.
Evancho's sister is one of three transgender students who filed suit against the Pine Richland School District, to allow them to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with.
Last month Evancho, who sang the National Anthem at Trump's inauguration, sent a message to the president on Twitter.
It said, "@realDonaldTrump u gave me the honor 2 sing at your inauguration. Pls give me & my sis the honor 2 meet with u 2 talk #transgender rghts"
. @realDonaldTrump u gave me the honor 2 sing at your inauguration. Pls give me & my sis the honor 2 meet with u 2 talk #transgender rghts ❤
— jackie evancho (@jackieevancho) February 23, 2017
Those students won a victory this week when a federal judge issued an injunction against the district which had required students use the bathroom of the sex on their birth certificate.
Evancho says they are "working on a meeting" with the president and she hopes to know by the end of March.
Jackie Evancho told KDKA-TV's Ralph Iannotti, "When I heard the news that Trump was pulling back on transgender guidelines, I was thinking about my sister, and all the things she's gone through, and me watching her suffer like that was really hard."
Jackie also said she would like to "enlighten the president on her family's personal experiences, and what we had to see and hear, and open his eyes to see some things he may or may not already know."
Juliet fears that President Trump's decision could be viewed by some as an open invitation to discriminate in even worse ways against transgender people and other members of the LGBTQ community.
The president, however, says the rights of transgender people will still now be protected.