Jackie Evancho, the 16-year-old singer who performed the national anthem at President Trump's inauguration, said on Wednesday that she was 'obviously disappointed' by Trump's reversal of former President Obama's transgender bathroom policy in public schools.
Evancho tweeted that she was disappointed in Trump's decision, and she wanted to bring her 18-year-old transgender sister, Juliet, to meet with him and discuss this issue:
I am obviously disappointed in the @POTUS decision to send the #transgender bathroom issue to the states to decide. #sisterlove
— jackie evancho (@jackieevancho) February 22, 2017
. @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
The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that they were revoking an Obama administration policy that required public schools to allow transgender students to choose whichever bathroom they wanted. The new policy argues that public schools and states should have the freedom to make their own decisions on the issue without the federal government interfering.
The reversal caused outrage among social progressives and LGBTQ supporters who believe that the policy change will lead to more bullying and discrimination.
Both of the Evancho sisters appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday, where they discussed the reversal in policy.
"I guess I just want to enlighten him on what my sister, I’ve seen her go through every single day in school and people just like her, what they deal with," Jackie Evancho said. "The discrimination, it’s terrible."
Juliet Evancho also discussed the policy reversal, and said she would try to deliver a message of understanding if she got the opportunity to meet with Trump.
"Basically that being at a high school where the policies on the bathroom are unclear, I, as Jackie has said, I kind of live it every day, going through discrimination," she said. "I’ve had things thrown at me. I’ve had people say pretty horrible things, and the unsafe environment is just very unhealthy so I feel like Donald Trump needs to know that being in such an unsafe environment won’t do any good, not only for the transgenders and the LGBTQ community, but as well as everyone as a whole."
"When I heard about it I was very disappointed and I realized that we would need to take action in order to enlighten the administration on everything," she said.
After Trump announced that Evancho would perform at his Jan. 20 inauguration, her record sales doubled, according to the Associated Press.
According to Nielsen Music, which tracks album sales, Evancho sold 7,206 albums the week ending on Dec. 15 (she announced she would sing the national anthem at the Inauguration on Dec. 14). The following week, which ended on Dec. 22, Evancho sold 13,788 albums, and the week after, ending on Dec. 29, the 16-year-old sold 11,096 albums.
Jackie Evancho's album sales have skyrocketed after announcing her Inauguration performance.Some people just don't understand the "Movement"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017