Texas federal judge puts federal transgender student guidance on hold

by Rob Howard
Associate Editor

After the federal Departments of Education and Justice issued guidance to school officials across the country informing them that they must allow students to use restrooms and locker rooms that conform with their gender identity, two groups of states filed federal lawsuits to overturn the guidance. The states leading the two lawsuits are Texas and Nebraska.

On Sunday, a federal judge in Austin, Texas, ruling in Texas v. United States, blocked the administrations guidance.

The Associated Press reported, US District Judge Reed O’Connor’s “decision dated Sunday comes after Texas and 12 other states challenged the Obama directive as unconstitutional. O'Connor ruled that the federal education law, Title IX, ‘is not ambiguous’ about sex being defined as ‘the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined at their birth.’”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who is leading the Texas lawsuit, “had argued that halting the law before school began was necessary because districts risked losing federal education dollars if they didn't comply,” the AP continued. “Federal officials didn't explicitly make that threat upon issuing the directive, although they also never ruled out the possibility.

"’This president is attempting to rewrite the laws enacted by the elected representatives of the people, and is threating to take away federal funding from schools to force them to conform,’ Paxton said. ‘That cannot be allowed to continue, which is why we took action to protect states and school districts.’"

The judge is attempting to make his order effective nationwide. NBCNews.com reported, “The federal government is almost certain to appeal, especially because the judge said his order applies nationwide. The Justice Department had argued that such an order would improperly impose one court's view on the many other courts wresting with the same issue ‘and on the many other states that have opted not to join this lawsuit, thereby preventing fuller development of the law on these important questions.’"

Paul Castillo, a Dallas attorney for the gay rights group Lambda Legal that had urged the court to let the directive stand, said the ruling was a continuation of attacks on transgender people, according to the AP.

"’I think today is going to be a hard day for transgender students,’ Castillo said. ‘The decision is certainly emotional, and certainly an attack on transgender students' dignity.’"

The Human Rights Campaign’s Legal Director Sarah Warbelow said, “Despite this judge’s decision, schools are not barred from following the federal guidance, and school administrators still have a responsibility to ensure that the civil rights of all students are respected and that transgender students have access to facilities consistent with their gender identity.

“As lawsuits on the scope of Title IX proceed, we believe that justice will prevail as courts continue to recognize that discrimination against transgender students is a form of sex discrimination.”

She also noted that, In March of 2015, Judge O’Connor also sought to block Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) rights for legally married same-sex couples despite the Supreme Court of the United States' decision in United States v. Windsor(2013).

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Copyright 2016 The Gayly – August 22, 2016 @ 11:55 a.m.