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A federal judge has blocked a directive from President Joe Biden’s administration that would have allowed transgender workers and students to use school restrooms that match their gender identity.
It also allowed transgender athletes to join sports teams corresponding to their chosen gender.
The directive was blocked by Trump-appointed Judge Charles Atchley Jr. of the Eastern District of Tennessee after a coalition of 20 Republican attorneys general filed suit last year, Reuters reported.
Including a sign for a public toilet. Genderless and disabled toilet (Istock/ AndreyPopov)
The plaintiffs argued that the federal directive conflicts with state laws and prevents states from enforcing their own laws that prohibit transgender schools from using restrooms.
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Judge Atchley agreed, saying that in his view states “cannot continue to regulate in accordance with their state laws while complying with the defendants’ guidance,” Reuters reported.
The states also argued that the Biden administration’s Department of Justice, Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — the defendants in the case — improperly justified the bathroom directive through the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 16: President Joe Biden steps off Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on July 16, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Thassos Katopodis/Getty Images)
In the case, Clayton County fired county employee Gerald Bostock for “inappropriate” conduct after he participated in a recreational gay softball league. The Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that gender discrimination in the workplace in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 must cover sexual orientation and gender identity.
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The Supreme Court said in its ruling that it was not deciding whether “gender-segregated bathrooms, locker rooms and dress codes violate Title VII.”
In 2021, after President Biden was sworn in and appointed new leadership, the Department of Education issued guidelines for implementing the 2020 case in schools.
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The division proposed that the court’s ruling apply to gender-segregated bathrooms — but Judge Atchley disagreed.
WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 18: Assistant US Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee Charles Atchley Jr. testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on November 18, 2020. in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The Bostock Superior Court “expressly declined to decide whether ‘sex-segregated bathrooms, locker rooms and dress codes’ violate Title VII,” the judge said in his opinion, Reuters reported.
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Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor, who was among the plaintiffs, called the decision “a major victory for women’s sports and for the privacy and safety of girls and women in their school bathrooms and locker rooms,” according to the report.
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