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Judge Reed O’Connor stepped in to block the U.S. Department of Education from protecting LGBTQ+ kids from discrimination in public schools, at least in Texas.
A conservative federal judge inTexas has blocked one of PresidentJoe Biden’sattempts to expand Title IX protections to includetransgender students. The ruling, handed down Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, sided with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who argued that the administration had overstepped its authority, Reuters reports.
The contested guidance, issued in 2021, would have prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools receiving federal funding. It was based on the Supreme Court's 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County that the federal law banning sex discrimination in employment also covers discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The ruling did not address education, but the Department of Education interpreted it to apply to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which bans sex discrimination in education. Some courts have interpreted it in that fashion as well. The guidance also built on guidelines issued by President Barack Obama's administration in 2016. That effort had ended up getting blocked in court too.
O’Connor, appointed by President George W. Bush, said the Biden administration “engaged in unlawful agency action taken in excess of their authority” and failed to follow proper notice and comment procedures. He argued that allowing the guidance to stand would effectively rewrite Title IX, a move he deemed beyond the administration’s power. He declined, however, to issue a nationwide injunction blocking the guidance; his action applies only to Texas.
Paxton, an anti-LGBTQ+ Republican, praised the decision, claiming it prevents what he described as an extremist agenda from taking hold. “Joe Biden’s unlawful effort to weaponize Title IX for his extremist agenda has been stopped in its tracks,” he said in astatement. “Threatening to withhold education funding by forcing states to accept ‘transgender’ policies that put women in danger was plainly illegal. Texas has prevailed on behalf of the entire Nation.”
In 2022, a federal judge in Tennessee had blocked the guidance from being enforced in 20 other states that sued, but the injunction he issued is on hold while the Biden administration appeals.
In a separate action in April of this year, the Education Department issued a final rule requiring schools to respect trans and nonbinary students' pronouns and allow them access to the restrooms of their choice. It is set to take effect in August, but it is already being challenged in court by Republican attorneys general in about 20 states. The administration has also been working on separate regulations regarding the eligibility of transgender athletes, which have yet to be finalized.
This ruling is part of a broader pattern of conservative legal challenges against the Biden administration’s efforts to protect LGBTQ+ rights. In 2022, O’Connor ruled that requiring insurance companies to cover HIV pre-exposure prophylaxisviolated religious freedoms, with the plaintiffs arguing that such coverage encourages so-called homosexual behavior. This decision sparked outrage amongLGBTQ+ advocates and legal experts, who warned that it jeopardizes access to essential preventive health care services.
The Department of Health and Human Services responded to that ruling by reaffirming its commitment to ensuring access to health care free from discrimination.
On O'Connor's decision, the Education Department issued a statement saying it stands by the guidance and that “every student deserves the right to feel safe in school."
Trudy Ring contributed additional reporting.
