By Joseph Morton
https://www.dallasnews.com
WASHINGTON — Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday the state will ignore new federal regulations that require government-funded schools to protect gender identity under rules prohibiting sex discrimination.
Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination at universities and K-12 schools that receive federal money, but Abbott said the new rules go too far.
“I am instructing the Texas Education Agency to ignore your illegal dictate,” Abbott said in a letter to President Joe Biden. “Your rewrite of Title IX not only exceeds your constitutional authority, but it also tramples laws that I signed to protect the integrity of women’s sports by prohibiting men from competing against female athletes.”
Abbott announced his order shortly after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to block the rules, which also protect sexual orientation, asserting the Biden administration overstepped its authority and misinterpreted Title IX.
The confrontation represents the latest clash between conservative Texans and the Biden administration on a host of issues, including immigration enforcement and abortion access.
Paxton has filed dozens of lawsuits against the Biden administration.
Like many others, the latest lawsuit was filed in Amarillo, a single-judge division, making it almost certain the case will be heard by Matthew Kacsmaryk, a federal district judge with socially conservative views who was appointed by former President Donald Trump.
The U.S. Education Department said Monday it does not comment on pending litigation but provided a general statement saying all federally funded schools must comply with the final regulations.
The Biden administration’s Title IX regulations also rolled back Trump administration policies requiring live hearings when students are accused of sexual misconduct.
Paul Castillo, senior counsel with Lambda Legal, a legal advocacy group for LGBTQ issues, disagreed with Paxton and Abbott’s description of the new rules as an aggressive overhaul of Title IX protections.
Rather, Castillo said, the rules are in line with court cases that have found Title IX’s prohibitions on sex-based discrimination cover sexual orientation and gender identity.
“This is not something that is new, but it provides and offers local school districts clarity that their obligation to protect all students includes LGBTQ students,” Castillo said.
Other Republican-led states and conservative groups on Monday filed separate challenges to the new rules, which are tied in part to a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said a separate ban on sex discrimination included protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.
In his lawsuit, Paxton said the administration is misapplying that decision, creating situations requiring “schools to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity by allowing single-sex programs and facilities but requiring opposite-sex access to them for only those individuals with a transgender gender identity.”
He also argued the new rules include ambiguous definitions of gender identity and sexual orientation, lack objective standards and would protect those with “nefarious intentions who are merely seeking access to a schoolgirls’ bathroom or locker room for predatory purposes.”
Castillo said there have been many reports of LGBTQ students in Texas being harassed because of their sexual orientation and gender identity, adding that Lambda Legal has long filed cases on behalf of LGBTQ students under Title IX.
He said Texas and several other states have no evidence to support warnings that predators could use Title IX rules to gain access to bathrooms.
“There was no evidence in those particular cases of anybody using this as sort of a nefarious way to try and enter restrooms or locker rooms, but in fact it was causing harm to transgender students who are at higher risk of harassment and discrimination,” Castillo said.
Castillo said federal law trumps state laws or rules, leaving schools to make independent determinations on how to respond to the regulations.
“They’re bound by federal law, and what is at risk is if they refuse to follow Title IX, they open themselves up to an investigation or a private lawsuit brought by a student who is being harmed by any policy that ignores Title IX’s prohibition of harassment or discrimination based on sex, including based on their gender identity or sexual orientation,” Castillo said.
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