WASHINGTON, D.C. (REUTERS) - Transgender rights activists and their supporters demonstrated in front of the White House late on Wednesday (Feb 22) after President Donald Trump's administration revoked landmark guidance issued to public schools in defense of transgender student rights, reversing course on a signature initiative of former President Barack Obama.

A few hundred people gathered in front of the White House to protest the Republican president's action, waving rainbow flags and chanting: "No hate, no fear, trans students are welcome here."

The rainbow flag is the symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Mr Obama instructed public schools in May 2016 to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms matching their chosen gender identity, threatening to withhold federal funding if they should force transgender children to use bathrooms against their will.

Mr Trump, a Republican who took office last month, rescinded those guidelines, even though they had been put on hold by a federal judge, arguing that state and public schools should have the authority to make their own decisions, without federal government interference.