Texas, Arkansas Join North Carolina in Fight Against Transgender Bathroom Directive
Politicians in Texas and Arkansas are taking a stand against President Obama's latest directive that requires U.S. public schools to let transgender students use the bathroom and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
"I announced today that Texas is fighting this. Obama can't rewrite the Civil Rights Act. He's not king," tweeted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
The Education Department's Civil Rights Act has already forced some public schools, like Chicago public schools, to open their bathrooms, locker rooms and showers designated for the opposite biological sex to transgender students.
Now all students have to do is declare a different gender than their biological sex and notify the school that their identity "differs from previous representations or records." No medical diagnosis or documents are needed to prove a transgender identity.
President Obama's announcement is now an attempt to make the policy consistent in schools all over the country.
The order was issued just days after the Justice Department and North Carolina sued each other over a state law requiring transgender people to use the public restroom that corresponds to their sex at birth.
"I think what we see once again is the egregious abuse of the authority of the president," said North Carolina Rep. Robert Pittenger.
"We have a defined separation of powers inside our government given by our founding fathers. This came from ancient Greece, and the president does not respect that," he added.
Education Secretary John King said in a statement that the guidance is meant to outline the expectations of school districts that receive money from the federal government in upholding Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.
Although the directive does not impose legal requirements on schools if they don't comply they could lose federal funding.
"The state here wishes to use its coercive power not simply to stop mistreatment of people but to rescript the most basic human intuitions about humanity as male and female," Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, wrote on his blog.
"We will not be blackmailed by the president's 30 pieces of silver," Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said.
He warned that the directive will be the "beginning of the end of the public school system as we know it." (link)
Arkansas is taking a stand against the directive and protecting the rights of students, parents, and teachers.
"The recent letter from the federal government providing guidance to Arkansas schools on gender identification is offensive, intrusive and totally lacking in common sense" wrote Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas in a statement. "There is no recognizable problem in Arkansas on this issue. The federal government is stirring the pot and meddling in the local control and administration of our schools."
