Texas and ten other states are suing the Obama Administration over its new transgender bathroom mandate.
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Texas is the lead plaintiff in the complaint, joined by Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The State of Texas’s lawsuit also defends a local school district whose policies are at odds with the Obama Administration directive. Walker granted the Attorney General’s request to join the federal lawsuit.
“This crosses socio-economic lines, Republican-Democrats lines, this is about parents and grandparents who are upset and they want to see the safety and well-being of their student is taken care of”, Paxton said during a press conference in Austin.
Scott did not clarify his comments when asked by a reporter whether he thought allowing a transgender person to use the restroom of their gender identity was the same as allowing a man to use a women’s bathroom.
Democrat Hood sided with Virginia officials in a federal lawsuit past year that sought to block the Justice Department from telling schools how to set bathroom policies. The lawsuit, announced Wednesday, accuses the administration of “running roughshod over commonsense policies” that protect children.
“By forcing through his policies through executive action President Obama has excluded the voice of the people”, said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
This marks the administration’s second major lawsuit over transgender bathroom rights, as it is already involved in a suit and counter-suit against North Carolina over that state’s controversial bathroom bill, which the Justice Department has branded discriminatory.
The Justice Department has filed a civil rights suit against North Carolina over the law, claiming that it discriminates against transgender people. But schools that refuse to comply could be hit with civil-rights lawsuits from the government and could face a cutoff of federal aid to education. The law applies to schools and many other places.
“When Arizona students attend school, they deserve a safe environment that is free from bullying and discrimination, regardless of their gender identity”, Douglas said in a prepared statement.
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Paxton said Harrold’s school board also included accommodations for special circumstances with students on a quote: ‘case by case basis’.
