Public schools nationwide do not have to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity, at least for the time being, a federal judge has decided.
Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court in Texas issued a 38-page opinion Sunday that temporarily blocks a controversial federal directive to public schools issued by the Obama administration. That directive, released in May, described accommodations that schools must provide for transgender students.
O’Connor’s decision came in response to a lawsuit that Texas and a dozen other states filed to challenge the transgender directive, arguing that the federal government had overstepped its authority and effectively had issued new regulations without going through the proper federal rule-writing process.
In granting a preliminary injunction against the government’s guidance, O’Connor ruled that the states were likely to win the case on the merits of their arguments.
Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas, welcomed the court’s decision.
“This President is attempting to rewrite the laws enacted by the elected representatives of the people, and is threatening to take away federal funding from schools to force them to conform,” Paxton said in a a statement. “That cannot be allowed to continue, which is why we took action to protect States and School Districts, who are charged under state law to establish a safe and disciplined environment conducive to student learning.”
LGBT advocates and the Obama administration have hailed the transgender guidance as critical for protecting the civil rights of some of the nation’s most vulnerable children. The Justice Department did not immediately comment on O’Connor’s decision.
Picture: NBC
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(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Emma Brown
