“This is great news out of Texas”, Roger Severino, director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation, said. “This judgment stops the administration’s ideologically driven misinterpretation of the law in its tracks and protects the safety and privacy of our children in school showers, lockers, and bathrooms”.
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The ruling came in the multi-state lawsuit, Texas v.
The guidance follows similar policies in states and school districts across the country, including many that have been treating transgender students with dignity and respect for more than a decade.
The administration argues that Title IX, as written, provides the Education Department all the authority it needs to issue the directive.
“It can not be disputed”, O’Connor wrote, that the meaning of the term “sex” in Title IX “meant the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined by their birth”. Those that fail to comply run the risk of losing federal funding under Title IX – a policy that covers sex discrimination. The suing states argue that references to “sex” in Title IX refer only to biological sex.
Charlotte attorney John Wester, who has argued before the Supreme Court but who is not involved in the HB2 fights, said the justices agree to hear a case when it has extraordinary national importance or there are conflicting opinions at the appeals court level. “I think today is going to be a hard day for transgender students”, Castillo said. Other states can maintain policies allowing kids to use facilities based on gender identity. “The court’s decision recognizes the danger of this governmental overreach and reaffirms the right of local control”.
The ruling signals the Supreme Court could take up a case addressing transgender rights in its next term.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing a transgender student in Virginia in a case that so far as brought a higher court ruling from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and might make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, said Sunday’s ruling should not affect any ongoing cases about transgender rights. “This unfortunate and premature ruling may, however, confuse school districts that are simply trying to support their students, including their transgender students”.
Republican officials who opposed the Obama administration’s directive welcomed the court’s decision and said it will protect students and allow individual school districts and states to address the issue in a way appropriate for their communities.
Following milestone achievements in gay rights including same-sex marriage becoming legal nationwide in 2015, transgender rights have become an increasingly contentious issue in America, with advocates saying the law should afford them the same rights extended to racial and religious minorities.
“The court concludes this injunction should apply nationwide”, he wrote. O’Connor said his opinion “should not necessarily interfere with litigation now pending before other federal courts on this subject regardless of the state law”. “Those states who do not want to be covered by this injunction can easily avoid doing so by state law”.
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The case is now expected to proceed to trial.
