The injunction, granted by US District Judge Reed O’Connor, was issued in response to a lawsuit filed by Texas and 12 other states. However, legal experts say schools that allow transgender students to choose their facilities, as several in North Jersey have, can continue doing so.
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Texas and other plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Obama administration will not have to follow federal guidance on bathroom accommodations for transgender students, a judge ruled this weekend.
The Obama administration has said that schools must allow transgender students to use the bathrooms and school facilities that match their gender identity, citing it as a civil rights issue protected under the federal sex-discrimination law known as Title IX. Numerous policies were approved with little fanfare or public debate.
Some members of the community opposed the policy, saying it did not have enough parental involvement because it bars parents from being notified about a student’s gender identity without the student’s permission.
Equality Utah executive Troy Williams called the ruling yet another slight against the dignity of transgender students.
Other advocates for gay and transgender rights emphasized that Sunday’s decision does not prevent transgender individuals from suing to protect their rights. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Virginia school board can block for now a transgender male from using the boys’ restroom while justices decide whether to fully intervene.
While the injunction is in place, the Obama administration can not enforce its rules on schools in states that were party to the lawsuit – which includes Wisconsin, according to the order.
Judge O’Connor, who was appointed by George W. Bush, said schools should have been allowed to have a say before the White House directive was issued.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who led the charge against the administration, praised Sunday’s ruling.
In a court hearing this month, an attorney for the US government appeared before a federal judge, saying that noncompliant schools weren’t being threatened with the loss of funding at the moment, though they could be later. “That can not be allowed to continue, which is why we took action to protect States and School Districts, who are charged under state law to establish a safe and disciplined environment conducive to student learning”. “The court has overstepped its bounds in determining that the federal agency empowered to interpret the law, using its expertise in understanding school issues among our youth, may not do so simply because a judge disagrees with their interpretation”. The defendant in that case, Virginia’s Gloucester County School Board, plans to ask the Supreme Court to review the case.
“Judge O’Connor’s decision … puts thousands of transgender students at even greater risk of marginalization, harassment and discrimination”, said Sarah Warbelow, legal director of the Human Rights Campaign.
The injunction applies nationwide, but O’Connor said states that have chosen to accommodate transgender students “will not be impacted”.
Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel said in a statement that the ruling stopped the Obama administration from re-writing federal law without congressional approval. The guidance also had implications for federal student privacy laws, threatening education officials with sanctions if they fail to address students by their preferred gender pronouns.
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“We are pleased that the court ruled against the Obama administration’s latest illegal federal overreach”, Paxton said. Texas alone gets roughly $10 billion in federal education funds.
