But a judge has put that order on hold – saying that a federal education law makes it clear that gender is defined by “biological and anatomical differences” at birth.
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A federal judge in Texas has sided with school districts opposing the Obama administration’s directive on transgender bathrooms, temporarily blocking the directive just before on the first day of school in Texas Monday.
A few hours before students returned to school, a federal judge in Forth Worth, Texas issued a nationwide injunction on Sunday that blocked the government’s recent order mandating that public schools allow transgender students to use the bathrooms, showers and locker rooms of their preference.
Supporters of LGBT rights say the administration’s guidance was necessary to ensure that transgender students are able to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.
The injunction “therefore only applies to those states whose laws direct separation”, he said.
Texas and 12 other states challenged the White House directive as unconstitutional.
“This case presents the hard issue of balancing the protection of students’ rights and that of personal privacy when using school bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, and other intimate facilities, while ensuring that no student is unnecessarily marginalized while attending school”, wrote O’Connor, who was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2007 and sits in Fort Worth, Texas. Kremer has said he hopes to bring the legislation back.
Under the injunction, the Obama administration is prohibited from enforcing the guidelines on “against plaintiffs and their respective schools, school boards, and other public, educationally based institutions”, O’Connor wrote.
The judge also ruled that the guidance failed to follow the law requiring that it get input from the public before drafting new regulations, and suggested that the federal guidance could be implemented if the Department of Education conducts a more formal rule-making process.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Mnday that the Obama administration is confident that its guidelines are legally sound, Reuters reports. 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.
The Department of Justice expressed disappointment over the ruling and said it is reviewing its options.
O’Connor, who former President George W. Bush nominated in 2007, did not issue a ruling from the bench this month after a hearing during which state attorneys argued the guidelines unconstitutionally “hold a gun to the head” of states and school districts and place students in danger.
In his long-winded 38-page order, Judge O’Connor claimed federal agencies had overstepped their authority and Obama’s ruling ignored Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which stresses the right for students of “both sexes” to receive equal amenities.
The decision comes on the heels of a U.S.
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“We will continue to file lawsuits representing transgender students and litigate them to the fullest extent of the law – regardless of what happens with this particular federal guidance”, the groups said in a joint statement. The groups, Lambda Legal, American Civil Liberties Union, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Transgender Law Center and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, vowed to continue their fight. “The decision is certainly emotional and certainly an attack on transgender students’ dignity”.
