This morning at 10:30 am, a federal judge in Fort Worth will hear a request from Texas, its Attorney General Ken Paxton, and 12 other states to halt Obama’s plan to allow transgender students to use school bathrooms based on gender identity.
RELATED: Texas AG Ken Paxton Leads 13-State Lawsuit Against Obama’s ‘Transgender Bathroom’ Directive
Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin and West Virginia are the other states involved in the lawsuit.
As we reported earlier:
Harrold Independent School District, near Wichita Falls, Texas is the official plaintiff on behalf of the state, but most of the attention there has fallen on the Fort Worth Independent School District where Superintendent Kent Scribner (right) issued guidelines that would allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice.
Last week, Paxton issued a nonbinding opinion that the Scribner’s guidelines violate state law by relegating “parents to a subordinate status” in being informed about their children. Paxton added that Scribner illegally enforced the rules without the school board’s input.
Scribner has ignored calls for him to step down and has issued a letter to state leaders noting that the district had approved official guidelines relating to transgender students five years ago.
RELATED: Here is the Obama Administration’s Sweeping Transgender Guidance for Schools: READ IT
The hearing in Fort Worth is the latest in the battle between the federal government, led by the Justice and Education departments, and the various states that are trying to block the policy change.
The White House told every public school district in May that they must allow transgender students to use bathrooms consistent with their chosen gender identity or risk losing federal funding.
The Obama administration’s guidance explained how Title IX applies to a wide variety of sex segregated activities and facilities including restrooms, locker rooms, athletics, single-sex classes, single-sex schools, social fraternities and sororities, and housing and overnight accommodations.
