A federal judge has issued an injunction that prevents the government from enforcing its transgender bathroom policy in schools.
Judge Reed O’Connor’s preliminary injunction challenges the interpretation of Title IX that includes protection of discrimination based on gender identity.
President Barack Obama’s administration had labelled the Title IX interpretation as “guidance” but warned “schools receiving federal money may not discriminate based on a student’s sex, including a student’s transgender status.”
The guidance stated that schools must allow students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity, not biological sex.
Now federal agencies will not be allowed to threaten to revoke federal money if school districts don’t follow the guidance.
“This case presents the difficult issue of balancing the protection of students’ rights and that of personal privacy when using school bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, and other intimate facilities, while ensuring that no student is unnecessarily marginalized while attending school,” Judge O’Connor wrote.
Campus Safety had reported that several states, including Texas, had sought the injunction as a challenge to the federal government’s Title IX interpretation. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton characterized the enforcement of the interpretation as “the Obama administration’s latest illegal federal overreach.”
Multiple civil rights groups spoke out against the injunction, pointing out that it’s the time of year when students across the country are gearing up to go back to school.
“A ruling by a single judge in one circuit cannot and does not undo the years of clear legal precedent nationwide establishing that transgender students have the right to go to school without being singled out for discrimination,” rights groups Lambda Legal, the ACLU and the National Center for Lesbian Rights said in a joint statement.
Federal agencies, including the Justice Department, say they are weighing their options.
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