Bathroom wars break out across U.S.
11 states sue over Obama transgender bathroom policy.
Democrats in Washington and Republicans in state capitols waged a multifront battle over gay and transgender rights Wednesday as both sides tried to define the limits of President Obama’s executive actions.
Texas and 10 other states filed suit against the Department of Education’s May 13 directive requiring schools to allow transgender students to choose which bathroom they’ll use, saying the Obama administration was attempting to rewrite a 44-year-old law intended to prevent discrimination against girls and women.
And on Capitol Hill, Democrats vowed to force votes on gay rights after a bitter showdown on the House floor last week over a last-minute Republican maneuver to block a gay rights amendment to a Republican religious liberty provision. Republicans prevailed after a number of GOP lawmakers changed their votes, prompting Democrats to shout, “Shame! Shame!”
Both actions reverberate from executive actions Obama has taken on gay rights. Democrats were trying to codify a 2014 Obama executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people.
And the 11 Republican state attorneys general are trying to overturn a number of Obama administration directives on gay rights — especially the guidance to school boards this month requiring transgender students to have access to the restrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations of their chosen gender identity.
“Our local schools are now in the crosshairs of the Obama administration,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Wednesday, leading the lawsuit on behalf of Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. “These schools are facing the potential loss of school funding for simply following common sense policies that protect their students.”
Also joining the suit is the Harrold Independent School District, an eastern Texas school system whose school board adopted a policy Monday requiring students to use restrooms consistent with their biological sex.
“Our local schools are now in the crosshairs of the Obama administration.” Ken Paxton, Texas attorney general
The suit names not only the Department of Education, but the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Com- mission for various regulations over the past six years prohibiting school and workplace discrimination based on gender identity.
The Justice Department did not immediately comment on the lawsuit, but the White House has said the guidance came in response to concerns from local school officials seeking clarity about how to deal with the increasingly controversial bathroom issue.
The transgender bathroom issue may have also doomed the Democratic amendment that prompted the ruckus on the House floor last week.
Rep. Sean Maloney, D-N.Y., is preparing to reintroduce the amendment to uphold the executive order, hoping to force another vote this week. “There are only two choices here — keep rigging the votes and promote discrimination, or open up the process and let the House vote for equality,” Maloney said.