Federal judge blocks Biden administration move to expand Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students
A Texas federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s efforts to extend federal anti-discrimination protections to LGBTQ+ students. A federal judge in Texas has blocked the Biden administration's attempt to extend federal anti-discrimination protections to LGBTQ+ students. Judge Reed O'Connor stated that the administration lacked the authority to make the changes, which would expand anti-discrimination protections. The changes, issued in April, would make schools and universities responsible for investigating a wider range of discrimination complaints. Texas and several other states have sued the administration over the rule change. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton praised the ruling, calling it "clearly illegal" to threaten education funding by forcing states to accept transgender policies that put women in danger.
Diterbitkan : 10 bulan yang lalu oleh Juan Salinas II and The Texas Tribune di dalam Politics
Judge Reed O’Connor said the Biden administration didn’t have the authority to make the changes, which would expand anti-discrimination protections.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Texas federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s efforts to extend federal anti-discrimination protections to LGBTQ+ students.
In his ruling Tuesday, Judge Reed O’Connor said the Biden administration lacked the authority to make the changes and accused it of pushing “an agenda wholly divorced from the text, structure, and contemporary context of Title IX.” Title IX is the 1972 law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in educational settings.
“To allow [the Biden administration’s] unlawful action to stand would be to functionally rewrite Title IX in a way that shockingly transforms American education and usurps a major question from Congress,” wrote O’Connor, a President George W. Bush appointee. “That is not how our democratic system functions.”
The Biden administration’s new guidelines, issued in April, expanded Title IX to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The changes would make schools and universities responsible for investigating a wider range of discrimination complaints.
The rule changes came as several states, including Texas, have approved laws in recent years barring transgender student-athletes from participating in sports teams that correspond to their gender identity. The Biden administration hasn’t clarified whether the new guidance would apply in those cases.
Texas and several other states have sued the Biden administration over the new rule. Carroll ISD also filed a separate suit over the change. A month after the guidelines were released, Gov. Greg Abbott called on school districts and universities to ignore them.
“Threatening to withhold education funding by forcing states to accept ‘transgender’ policies that put women in danger was plainly illegal,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a statement applauding Tuesday’s ruling. “Texas has prevailed on behalf of the entire Nation.”
Topik: Social Issues, LGBTQ