The new guidance stated that students had a right to use restrooms and other facilities consistent with their gender identities.
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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. The district pulled their policy down last month. “There’s a decent chance the U.S. Supreme Court could address this issue in the near future”.
The lawsuit came after a legislative session during which a bill co-authored by Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, that would set gender restrictions on school bathrooms and locker rooms failed to get traction.
“Nothing in [Monday’s] ruling says that a school can not offer those accommodations and follow the guidance”.
Schimel called the directive a “new policy” that “conflicts with the plain language of Title IX, and is therefore an unlawful interpretation”.
In the Texas case, decided by Judge Reed O’Connor (who past year blocked new rules under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which were written to help same-sex couples) deference was not granted to the new rules. Those that fail to comply run the risk of losing federal funding under Title IX – a policy that covers sex discrimination. But some school districts, and states say they should be able to establish safe environments for students without the threat of having federal funding being taken away. “And it doesn’t affect the rights of transgender kids and their families to continue to ask their schools for protection”.
“The department is disappointed in the court’s decision, and we are reviewing our options”, Iverson said. In their complaint, attorneys for the states argued that federal officials’ inclusion of “gender identity” amounted to overreach, going beyond the original intent of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to turn schools and workplaces into “laboratories for a massive social experiment”.
Williams said it’s “astonishing” that the state would join a “mean-spirited” lawsuit that denies transgender children the basic right to use a bathroom.
He said the latest ruling was a continuation of attacks on transgender people.
“I am not anti-transgender”, Kelley said.
The move to accommodate transgender students in public schools is stirring up controversy across the country.
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The transgender bathroom issue rose to the forefront of the culture wars after the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law requiring people in government buildings, including public schools, to use bathrooms and other similar facilities that correspond with the sex on their birth certificates. Republicans have argued such laws are commonsense privacy safeguards.
