Texas Judge Temporarily Blocks Obama’s Transgender Directive

She said despite the judge’s order, school districts are still required to protect students’ civil rights.

In issuing the injunction Sunday, O’Connor wrote that federal agencies exceeded their authority under the 1972 law banning sex discrimination in schools.

This case presents the hard issue of balancing the protection of students’ rights and that of personal privacy. while ensuring that no student is unnecessarily marginalized while attending school.

State and local school boards, he said, are in the best position to make public policy for students.

The lawsuit is the second in recent months in which conservative states have sued over federal efforts to defend transgender rights.

Now it appears the schools in plaintiff states – and possibly schools in every other state – are safe from funding cuts if they don’t follow the federal guidance.

In the Texas case, decided by Judge Reed O’Connor (who a year ago blocked new rules under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which were written to help same-sex couples) deference was not granted to the new rules. Paxton had argued that halting the law before school began was necessary because districts risked losing federal education dollars if they didn’t comply.

Additionally, he noted that federal regulators gave schools an exemption from totally equal access to facilities by permitting them to maintain bathroom and locker room facilities for boys and girls because boys and girls may be wholly or partially naked and “separation from members of the opposite sex, those who bodies possessed a different anatomical structure, was needed to ensure personal privacy”. “That can not 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”.

According to Reuters, the US Justice Department said it was disappointed by the decision and was reviewing its options.

Texas and four other states, along with some religious medical organizations, filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a regulation issued by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on transgender health.

The administration said that the Department of Education and the Department of Justice “treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of the law”.

The Obama administration finalized the regulations around the time it issued its directive to public schools regarding transgender students.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that the guidance was issued in response to requests for information and advice from schools and school districts.

Even though the ruling represents a considerable setback for transgender rights advocates and the Obama administration, is it hardly the last word.

The transgender bathroom issue rose to the forefront of the culture wars after the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law requiring people in government buildings, including public schools, to use bathrooms and other similar facilities that correspond with the sex on their birth certificates. Texas alone gets roughly $10 billion in federal education funds.

A Texas Judge has blocked President Obama’s directive on transgender bathrooms.

O’Connor’s ruling is “just one small part of an unfolding process”, said Aaron Bruhl, a professor at William & Mary Law School in Virginia.