According to the Guardian, republican Texas attorney general Ken Paxton said “there’s not a lot of research” when asked if he knew of any cases where child safety was threatened due to transgender bathrooms.
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As many as 11 USA states, nine of which run by Republican governors, sued the Obama administration on Wendesday to stop a new federal guidance requiring all public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and other facilities that align with their gender identities, media here reported.
One of two school districts joining 11 states in suing the Obama administration over bathroom rights for transgender students is in North Texas and has only about 100 students.
As well as Utah, the lawsuit was filed by Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Louisiana, as well as the Arizona Department of Education and Maine Gov. Paul LePage.
The federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in a U.S. District Court states that the guidance in this letter “has no basis in law” and argues that authorities are “flouting the democratic process”.
A directive issued earlier this month by the Obama administration reiterated that gender identity is included in federal law that bans sex discrimination in public schools.
Several US states have recently enacted laws that limit the rights of transgender people.
Paxton said that Texas was sympathetic to the “cause” of North Carolina which is not among the plaintiffs of this lawsuit.
While this guidance was embraced by some and described by federal officials as a needed action to protect civil rights, others – including numerous high-profile conservative officials – pushed back against the directive.
The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Texas, names the Departments of Education, Justice, and Labor, as defendants, as well as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
It isn’t just in IL and North Carolina that new standards concerning restroom and locker room use by transgender students in schools that receive federal funding have sparked litigation. A small Arizona school district also joined in the lawsuit.
The law applied to all public facilities in schools.
Supporters said the measure protects women and children from men who are sexual predators who might masquerade as the opposite sex to gain access to public restrooms.
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“No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus”, Education Secretary John King Jr. said.
