Conservative states to oppose directive on transgender bathroom use

RALEIGH (AP) — Politicians in Texas, Arkansas and elsewhere vowed defiance — and other conservative states could follow suit — after the Obama administration told public schools across the US on Friday to let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

The federal government’s guidance was met with tearful praise from parents of transgender students.

“It’s heartbreaking that these kids are losing their lives because they can’t be accepted,” Hope Tyler, who has a transgender son at a Raleigh high school, said in reference to suicides among transgender people. “Somebody has to speak for the kids.”

The directive from the US Justice and Education Departments represents an escalation in the fast- moving dispute over what is becoming the civil rights issue of the day.

One by one, conservative political leaders thundered against it and President Barack Obama.

“This is the most outrageous example yet of the Obama administration forcing its liberal agenda on states that roundly reject it,” said Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant.

The guidance was issued just days after the Justice Department and North Carolina sued each other on a law that requires transgender people to use the public bathroom that corresponds to the sex on their birth certificate.

While supporters say the measure is needed to protect women and children from sexual predators, the Justice Department and others argue the threat is practically nonexistent and the law discriminatory.

The guidance issued on Friday is not legally binding, since the question of whether federal civil rights law protects transgender people has not been definitively answered by the courts and may ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.

But schools that refuse to comply could be hit with civil rights lawsuits from the government and could face a cutoff of federal aid to education.

Texas’ lieutenant governor said the state is prepared to forfeit billions rather than let the Obama administration dictate restroom policy for its 5.2 million students.

“We will not be blackmailed by the president’s 30 pieces of silver,” Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said.