U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday barred the administration from enforcing the policy, which would have allowed transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms according to their gender identity.
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The lawsuit was filed in the same division of the Northern District of Texas – the Wichita Falls Division – as the state’s prior multi-state lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s other pro-transgender policies was filed.
Texas and 12 other states asked O’Connor to halt the directive after the federal government told US public schools in May that transgender students must be allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity.
O’Connor also said that the ruling would apply to all states.
O’Connor ruled that the federal anti-discrimination law known as Title IX “is not ambiguous” about sex being defined as “the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined at their birth”.
A White House spokesman reiterated Monday the administration’s contention that the guidelines were “certainly not a mandate” and characterized the lawsuit as an election year attempt to “play politics” with issues involving transgender students.
“The court’s misguided decision targets a small, vulnerable group of young people – transgender elementary and high school students – for potential continued harassment, stigma and abuse”, said the five groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal.
Specifically, the ACA provision – Section 1557 – prohibits discrimination in federally-funded health benefits, including based on sex. He concluded that the Obama administration didn’t follow proper rule-making procedure in crafting the guidelines.
But they were also backed up by a threat to withhold federal education money from states that refused to comply, drawing objections from 13 states, led by Texas, that sued. The new guidance stated that students had a right to use restrooms and other facilities consistent with their gender identities. Those states include Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Following milestone achievements in gay rights including same-sex marriage becoming legal nationwide in 2015, transgender rights have become an increasingly contentious issue in the United States, with advocates saying the law should afford them the same rights extended to racial and religious minorities.
Texas challenged the guidelines after they were issued earlier this year by the departments of Education and Justice.
In a technical part of the opinion, the judge suggested that the administration and its agencies should have provided “notice and comment” on the changes to the regulations interpreting the term “sex”.
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“There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex”, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at the time.
