During a Feb. 21 press conference, White House Press Sec. Sean Spicer hinted that an Obama administration guidance from the Department of Education offering Title IX protections for transgender students would be rescinded by the Trump administration that, according to Spicer, believes that it is a “state’s-rights issue.”

The statement appeared to confirm rumors which nationwide advocacy groups had been hearing that protections would be withdrawn ahead of a Supreme Court case brought by transgender high school Senior Gavin Grimm against a Virginia schoolboard.

Reaction from those groups was swift.

“It is outrageous,” National Center for Transgender Equality Executive Director Mara Keisling said before stating that referring to Title IX protections to the states rather than the federal government was “dangerously wrong and incorrect.”

“Enforcing federal laws like Title IX are not state-by-state options,” she said. “They are the responsibility of the federal government.”

Keisling added that the decision contradicts the support for the LGBTQ community Trump pledged last month.

“Attacking our children, saying that transgender students can’t be students which is the effect of saying that you won’t enforce Title IX, is no way to say you support and respect LGBTQ people,” she asserted. “These are kids who have to face bullies every day and, now, they are facing adults like the Attorney General of the United States, the Secretary of Education and the President of the United States who are taking actions that are simply harmful to students.”

Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) Executive Director Eliza Byard echoed those sentiments.

“I find it obscene that Mr. Spicer would characterize the well-being, health and the very safety of transgender young people as an issue of state’s rights,” she said. “No child in America should have their rights subject to their zip code and the role of the Department of Education, as a civil rights agency of the government ensuring that every child has an equal shot at living up to their full potential, is central to that agency’s mission.”

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Project Director James Esseks stated that his organization is taking action outside of the Department of Education.

“Luckily, the courts also enforce Title IX and, at the end of the day, the courts decide what the scope of Title IX is,” he said citing the Grimm case which is scheduled to be heard on March 28.

Esseks added that Trump’s revocation of Title IX guidance would not undermine Grimm’s case even though it was cited by the Fourth Circuit Court in their decision.

“When the Supreme Court took the case, it took review over two separate questions,” he said. “Regardless of any guidance, what does Title IX mean for trans kids and restrooms? The school board, in a brief that it filed before the Supreme Court back in January, specifically asked the Court to decide the Title IX question regardless of whether the guidance continued to exist or not.”

He stated that the ACLU will file a brief this week similarly asking the, at present, eight Supreme Court justices to address the same question.

“What is extremely clear is that, when trans students are allowed to transition socially and simply be themselves at school they do better in every possible measure of mental health and academic achievement,” Byard asserted. “When they are not allowed to be themselves at school, they suffer mightily and the severe risks to their health, wellbeing and the heightened risk of suicide is well-documented for transgender students across this country. It is inconceivable that we are fighting over guidance that has helped to change and save so many lives and practices that have hurt absolutely no one.”

Rumors spread in late January and early February that Trump planned an executive order curbing LGBT protections; his administration said the order was one of many prospective orders, and was not intended for publication.

Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said in a Feb. 20 statement, “Transgender young people face tragically high rates of discrimination and bullying, and they need a government that will stand up for them—not attack them. It’s shocking that this kind of harm would even be a subject of debate for the president. We call on Trump to immediately and permanently affirm the Obama Administration’s guidance and protect transgender students.”

It is presently unclear exactly when the Trump administration intends to rescind the guidelines although advocacy groups expect that action to be imminent.

Additional reporting by Matt Simonette