Little change for schools that already have guidelines.
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Henry Seaton, a transgender high school senior, listens.
“The information before the Court demonstrates Defendants (Obama administration) have “drawn a line in the sand” in that they have concluded Plaintiffs (states) must abide by the guidelines, without exception, or they are in breach of their Title IX obligations”. He also noted that the issue of states’ rights were in play, writing that requiring states to comply with Barack Obama’s directive would make them “cede their authority over this issue”.
The administration’s lawyers argue transgender people are protected under existing law and defended their understanding of the Title IX statute on the grounds that the word “sex” and its application in the law also applies to “gender” and “gender identity”. “And it doesn’t affect the rights of transgender kids and their families to continue to ask their schools for protection”.
The New York Times reports that a department spokeswoman, Dena W. Iverson, told the media only that the department was “disappointed” and looking into its options. If the Obama administration challenges |the injunction, the case would head next to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Texas and 12 other states had asked Judge Reed O’Connor to halt the directive, which the U.S. Justice Department issued in May.
“For years, local school boards, parents and students have worked together to provide safe accommodations for transgender students without interference from federal mandates that cause more confusion and less cooperation”, Reyes said in a statement.
The directive says public schools must allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. He said the latest ruling was a continuation of attacks on transgender people. That is because the administration didn’t follow proper rule-making procedure in crafting the guidelines, O’Connor explained, noting, “The resolution of this hard policy decision is not … the subject of this order”.
The Justice Department sued the state over the law and US Attorney General Loretta Lynch likened that law to the policies of racial segregation.
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. “I am pleased that the district court in Texas has acted to protect districts across the country while the full legality of this policy is determined”.
In May, the US Department of Education sent a guidance to public schools, saying they could lose federal funding if they kept trans kids out of bathrooms of their choice.
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The lawsuit was filed in May by Texas, Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Utah and Georgia, and the Republican governors of Maine, Mississippi and Kentucky.
