“This recent injunction against transgender student protections stands in stark contrast to equality and we believe it will be overturned on appeal”.
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“The department is disappointed in the court’s decision, and we are reviewing our options”, said Dena Iverson, a Justice Department spokeswoman.
In Texas v. United States, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor blocked the Department of Justice from enforcing the guidance that clarifies transgender students have a right to be free from discrimination in schools, including a right to use restrooms and other facilities consistent with their gender identity.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, argued that President Obama was “attempting to rewrite the laws enacted by the elected representatives of the people”. “This injunction gives me hope that common sense may yet prevail in a case that puts a third of our education funding in jeopardy”.
“The federal government can not, at least at this point, force it’s views of regarding bathrooms, locker rooms, showers and dorms on the States”, he added.
“The only thing a doctor is obliged to do is treat all patients, including trans patients, with dignity and respect and to make treatment decisions free from bias”, Weiss said.
Administration officials argue that telling students they can’t use the facilities of the gender they identify with amounts to sex discrimination.
185-v-32-(Ben Thomas, AP correspondent)-A federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked an Obama administration directive on bathroom rights for transgender students in public schools. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch compared the law to racial segregation policies. He concluded that the Obama administration didn’t follow proper rule-making procedure in crafting the guidelines.
The Obama administration’s guidance in May came days after the Justice Department sued North Carolina over a state law that requires people to use public bathrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate.
“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”. Texas alone gets roughly $10bn in federal education funds. It also supersedes local school districts’ authority to address student issues on an individualized, professional and private basis.
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The 13 states included Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
