A federal judge in Tennessee has blocked the federal government from enacting President Joe Biden’s orders to force schools to allow boys “who identify as girls” to use girls’ restrooms and locker rooms.
Last August, 20 attorneys general, including Alaska’s Treg Taylor, sued the Biden Administration when it directed schools to permit transgender boys identifying as girls to play on girls’ athletic teams and use girls’ facilities that are normally aligned with true gender.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, asserted that the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission were wrongly interpreting case law when it comes to protections for LGBTQ+ individuals in the workplace.
The case that the agencies were wrongly interpreting is a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that says Title 7 protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from employment discrimination.
Last year, the Department of Education said discrimination based on a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity is a violation of Title 9, the 1972 federal law that protects against sex discrimination in education. A legal analysis by the Education Department said there is “no persuasive or well-founded basis” to treat education differently than employment.
District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. on Friday disagreed and ruled for the attorneys general. He issued a temporary injunction against the two agencies until the matter can be sorted out by the courts.
