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A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked two Biden administration directives protecting LGBTQ people in schools and the workplace from discrimination, ruling in favor of 20 attorneys general who argued in a lawsuit that the guidelines violated states’ rights.
The move comes amid a wave of conservative measures to curtail LGBTQ rights that have alarmed liberal activists as the battle for transgender rights moves to the political forefront.
The two directives, which apply to educational institutions receiving federal funding and most employers, would extend protections for transgender people to use bathrooms and locker rooms in schools and at work, and to join sports teams that match their gender identity.
The states in question argue that the directives would put them at risk of losing significant federal funding because of their existing laws.
“Defendants’ guidelines directly interfere with and threaten the plaintiff states’ ability to continue to enforce their state laws,” U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. of the Eastern District of Tennessee wrote in his ruling.
“Their sovereign power to enforce their own legal code is impeded by the issuance of the defendants’ guidelines, and they face considerable pressure to change their state laws as a result,” he added.
The states represented by the attorneys general are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and West Virginia . All of these states have Republican-controlled legislatures, except for Alaska, where a cross-party coalition controls the House of Representatives.
The administration’s guidance, issued by the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), followed a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that said a civil rights provision called Title VII, which prohibits discrimination in the workplace based on sex, includes, among other categories, discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The White House, the Department of Education and the EEOC did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s requests for comment.
The Department of Education’s June 2021 guidance said such discrimination would be treated as a violation of Title IX, a 1972 federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education, and could result in sanctions for schools. colleges and universities. This month, the EEOC explained in its own guidelines what would constitute discrimination against LGBTQ people in the workplace and how members of the public can file a complaint.
Last month, on the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the administration proposed sweeping changes to the law that would prohibit educational institutions from discriminating against transgender students and change guidelines for how institutions handle claims of sexual assault and harassment. The Department of Education must finalize that rule before it can enforce those protections, and the comment period for the rule runs through September.
Atchley wrote that the injunction will remain in effect “until this matter is finally resolved” or until further orders are given by the district court or higher courts.
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The Biden administration, by expanding federal protections for LGBTQ students, is exercising power that “properly belongs to Congress, the states and the people,” according to the attorneys general who brought the suit.
“Defendants would be allowed to use ‘fear of future sanctions’ to compel ‘immediate compliance’ with the challenged guidelines,” Atchley wrote, which he said would cause the states in question “significant hardship.”
He agreed with state attorneys general that the Department of Education, in a West Virginia lawsuit, tried to enforce its guidelines by filing a statement of interest arguing that Title IX prohibits the state from allowing of transgender girls to participate in girls’ athletics.
According to a CNN analysis of American Civil Liberties Union data, 2022 marked a record year for laws targeting LGBTQ Americans. As of July 1 this year, at least 162 bills have been introduced in 35 states targeting LGTBQ people—more than double the number considered in 2020, and a higher number so far this year than the 151 bills considered in all of 2021 , CNN said. The majority of these bills target transgender and non-binary people, including around issues of bathroom use, athletics participation, school programs and identity documents.
10 anti-LGBTQ laws just went into effect. All of them are aimed at schools.
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Earlier this month, more laws went into effect in Indiana, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah restricting athletic endeavors in which transgender students can participate. In July, an Alabama law restricting discussion of LGBTQ issues in schools and preventing transgender students from using bathrooms and other facilities that match their gender identity also went into effect.
Lawmakers who introduced the measures say they’re meant to protect children, promote fairness in sports and other fields and, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said, push back against “sexist ideology.”
Liberal activists denounced the laws, which they say aim to erase LGBTQ people and communities from America’s cultural narrative. Amid a national school mental health crisis, the issue is especially important, they say, increasing the risk of social isolation, depression and suicide among LGBTQ students.
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