On Tuesday, the Obama Administration announced that schools that don’t put a halt to anti-LGBT bullying could find themselves staring down the figurative barrels of lawyers in the Department of Education’s civil rights division. However, education activists say this is only an affirmation of policy that’s existed since the waning days of the Clinton Administration, and which was reaffirmed by the Bush administration, and does not represent a game-changer in schools’ efforts to address bullying in the wake of several high-profile suicides caused, in part, by anti-LGBT bullying.

In statements to reporters and a letter sent to school district administrators, Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Russlyn H. Ali said that under Title IX of Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender, a student is protected against bullying that accuses them of violating gender norms.

“It can be sex discrimination if students are harassed either for exhibiting what is perceived as a stereotypical characteristic for their sex, or for failing to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity,” the letter stated.

According to Shawn Gaylord, Public Policy Director for the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, similar language was adopted as policy by the Clinton Administration in 1997, and was affirmed by the Bush Administration in 2001.

“We don’t see the new giudance is breaking any ground, legally, but its good to have the guidance reafirmed,” Gaylord told TheColu.mn.

In an email to TheColu.mn, OutFront Minnesota’s Legal Director, Phil Duran, said that this interpretation of Title IX has deep roots, stretching back to 1989.

The announcement will likely not have any impact on the situation in the Anoka-Hennepin School District, where the school board voted on Monday to formally include sexual orientation in the district’s anti-harassment policy.

LGBT activists, however, say the change is not enough.

“It’s a reaction without asking what the issue really was,” said local teachers’ union president Julie Blaha in an interview with TheColu.mn. “It lacks depth, it lacks effectiveness [because it doesn’t examine what the situation is, and what the bullying problems are, on a building-by-building basis]. It doesn’t really motivate teachers to do good work.”

Speaking before the school board, teachers’ union president Julie Blaha called on the board to engage all staff in an effort to build a more inclusive LGBT community.

Ideally, Blaha told TheColu.mn after the meeting, teachers and administrators would work together to identify the specific problems in each school that might be driving an environment that LGBTA students say is extremely hostile, instead of bringing in outside experts for periodic trainings.

“We have provided training this year” Anoka-Hennepin spokesperson Brett Johnson told TheColu.mn in an email, “and it was more extensive than any training we have provided previously regarding GLBT youth and responding to them appropriately. We will continue to refine and improve the training and information that we provide our employees.”