Two conservative federal judges in Texas have blocked President Joe
Biden�s administration from enforcing new anti-discrimination protections
for LGBTQ students, preventing the rule from taking effect in the
Republican-led state and a school district represented by a Christian
legal rights group.

Thursday�s rulings by U.S. District Judges Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo
and Reed O�Connor in Fort Worth followed decisions by three other
Republican-appointed judges in Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana blocking the
regulation in 14 other states.

The U.S. Department of Education�s rule interprets the ban on
discrimination �on the basis of sex� contained in Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972 as also barring discrimination based on
sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Education Department cited a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Bostock
v. Clayton County, holding that a ban against sex discrimination in the
workplace contained in a different law, Title VII, covered gay and
transgender workers.

Courts have often relied on interpretations of Title VII when analyzing
Title IX, as both laws bar discrimination on the basis of sex.

But Kacsmaryk, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump,
in siding with Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and two
professors at the University of Texas at Austin, concluded that Title VII
does not govern Title IX.

He said a strict reading of Title IX�s text makes clear its overarching
goal was to prevent discrimination against women in public and higher
education, yet the rule would force Texas schools to no longer separate
bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities based on biological sex.

�Title IX protects women in spaces that were historically reserved to
men,� he wrote. �In stark contrast, the Final Rule inserts men into the
very Title IX spaces statutorily reserved to women.�

He issued a preliminary injunction preventing the rule from being enforced
in Texas. Paxton on the social media platform X hailed the decision as
preventing the Education Department from �forcing radical �transgender�
ideology on Texas schools.�

In a separate decision, issued nearly simultaneously, O�Connor, an
appointee of Republican former President George W. Bush, blocked the rule
from being enforced in 11 schools located in Carroll Independent School
District in Texas.

�The Final Rule undermines over fifty years of progress for women and
girls made possible by Title IX,� O�Connor wrote. �Worse still, the Final
Rule endangers not only women and girls, but all students.�

The district�s lawyers at conservative Christian legal group Alliance
Defending Freedom had urged O�Connor to go even further and put on hold
the rule�s Aug. 1 effective date, a remedy the judge said would
potentially have to be applied nationwide.

O�Connor, who had previously declared related guidance from the department
invalid, deferred deciding that issue and requested further briefing by
July 18 on how a stay would work in this context.

The Education Department in a statement defended the law as being crafted
�to realize the Title IX statutory guarantee.�

The cases in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
are State of Texas v. United States, No. 2:24-cv-00086, and Carroll
Independent School District v U.S. Department of Education, No. 4:24-cv-
00461.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/texas-judges-block-biden-
protections-lgbtq-students-rcna161631

>Two conservative federal judges in Texas have blocked President Joe
>Biden's administration from enforcing new anti-discrimination protections
>for LGBTQ students, preventing the rule from taking effect in the
>Republican-led state and a school district represented by a Christian
>legal rights group.
>

Some Americans just don't deserve rights and it's good to see a judge
deciding who. Teaches a lesson to the people.

Can't wait for the death squads.