US President Donald Trump's administration has revoked landmark guidance to public schools letting transgender students use the bathrooms of their choice.
The move reverses a signature initiative of former President Barack Obama.
Mr Obama had instructed public schools last May to let transgender students use the bathrooms matching their chosen gender identity, threatening to withhold funding for schools that did not comply.
Transgender people hailed the step as victory for their civil rights.
Mr Trump rescinded those guidelines, even though they had been put on hold by a federal judge, arguing that states and public schools should have the authority to make their own decisions without federal interference.
The Justice and Education departments will continue to study the legal issues involved, according to the new, superseding guidance that will be sent to public schools.
About 200 people gathered in front of the White House to protest against Mr Trump's action, waving rainbow flags and chanting: "No hate, no fear, trans students are welcome here."
"We all know that Donald Trump is a bully, but his attack on transgender children…is a new low," said Rachel Tiven, chief executive of Lambda Legal, which advocates for LGBT people.
Conservatives such as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who spearheaded the lawsuit challenging the Obama guidance, hailed the Trump administration action.
"Our fight over the bathroom directive has always been about former President Obama's attempt to bypass Congress and rewrite the laws to fit his political agenda for radical social change," said Mr Paxton, a Republican.
Transgender legal advocates have criticised the "states' rights" argument, saying federal law and civil rights are matters for the federal government to enforce, not the states.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the administration was pressed to act now because of the pending US Supreme Court case, G.G. versus Gloucester County School Board.
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