Two conservative federal judges in Texas have halted the Biden legislation from implementing new anti-bias preservations for LGBTQ students, preventing the rule from being enforced in the Republican-led state and a school district backed by a Christian legal rights organization.
Texas Judges Block LGBTQ Protections
On Thursday, U.S. District Judges Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo and Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth released rulings that echoed former decisions by three other Republican-appointed judges in Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana, efficiently barring the managing in 14 more states.
The U.S. Department of Education's rule views the prohibition on discrimination "on the basis of sex" in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 as also prohibiting bias based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Education Department referenced the 2020 Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which ruled that Title VII's workplace bias prohibition includes protections for gay and transgender workers.
Courts regularly use interpretations of Title VII when analyzing Title IX, as both laws ban sex-based bias.
Donald Trump, aligning with Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and two University of Texas at Austin professors, determined that Title VII does not apply to Title IX.
He contends that a stringent interpretation of Title IX's text signifies its main goal was to avoid bias against women in public and higher education. He declared that the rule would need Texas schools to stop separating bathrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities by biological sex.
He stated that Title IX protects women in traditionally designated areas for men. In sharp contrast, the Final Rule allows men to enter those very Title IX spaces legally reserved for women.
He granted a preliminary injunction to stop the enforcement of the rule in Texas. Paxton commended the decision on the social media platform X, stating it stops the Education Department from "imposing radical 'transgender' ideology on Texas schools."
O'Connor Blocks Rule in 11 Texas Schools
In a separate, nearly simultaneous decision, O'Connor, an appointee of Republican former President George W. Bush, blocked the rule's enforcement in 11 schools within the Carroll Independent School District in Texas.
O'Connor stated that the Final Rule threatens over fifty years of progress for women and girls achieved through Title IX. Furthermore, she noted that the Final Rule puts not only women and girls at risk but all students.
Lawyers from the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, representing the district, had urged O'Connor to delay the rule's August 1 effective date, a measure the judge indicated might need to be applied nationwide.
O'Connor, who had earlier declared related guidance from the department invalid, postponed a decision on that issue and requested additional briefing by July 18 on how a stay would be implemented in this context.
The Education Department, in a statement, defended the rule as designed "to realize the Title IX statutory guarantee."
The cases in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas are State of Texas v. United States, No. 2:24-cv-00086, and Carroll Independent School District v. U.S. Department of Education, No. 4:24-cv-00461.
Related Article: Judge Temporarily Blocks Biden's Title IX Rule Expanding LGBTQ Protections for Students in 6 States
