Eleven U.S. states to drop suit over transgender bathroom order
foto: reuters.com
Eleven U.S. states have agreed to drop a lawsuit against an Obama administration order for transgender students to use bathrooms of their choice after the measure was revoked by President Donald Trump, according to Reuters.
In a filing in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Justice Department said the states, led by Texas, had agreed to drop the lawsuit, and it was dropping its appeal against a federal judge's August stay on the Obama directive.
In their suit in May, the states said Democratic President Barack Obama's administration overstepped its authority by ordering public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms matching their gender identity, rather than their birth gender, or risk losing federal funding.
Obama officials had said that barring students from such bathrooms violated Title IX, the federal law that forbids sex discrimination in education.
But the directive enraged conservatives who say federal civil rights protections cover biological sex, not gender identity. Obama was succeeded by Trump, a Republican, when he left office in January.
In a filing in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Justice Department said the states, led by Texas, had agreed to drop the lawsuit, and it was dropping its appeal against a federal judge's August stay on the Obama directive.
In their suit in May, the states said Democratic President Barack Obama's administration overstepped its authority by ordering public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms matching their gender identity, rather than their birth gender, or risk losing federal funding.
Obama officials had said that barring students from such bathrooms violated Title IX, the federal law that forbids sex discrimination in education.
But the directive enraged conservatives who say federal civil rights protections cover biological sex, not gender identity. Obama was succeeded by Trump, a Republican, when he left office in January.