A Tennessee judge temporarily blocked two federal directives allowing trans youth to use bathrooms and join sports teams according to their lived gender.
On July 15, Judge Charles Atchley, Jr. of the District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee ruled that the Biden administration’s trans-affirming guidance would prevent states from enforcing their own laws regarding trans youth, The Washington Post reported. Last August, a lawsuit against the policies was brought on behalf of 20 Republican-led states, and their attorneys general said the guidelines could prevent the plaintiffs from receiving federal funding because of a conflict with White House policy.
Atchley agreed with the complainants. “Their sovereign power to enforce their own legal code is hampered by the issuance of Defendants’ guidance and they face substantial pressure to change their state laws as a result,” he wrote in his ruling.
Among the states that joined the lawsuit over the directives are Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee. In a statement, Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor said the ruling is “a major victory for women’s sports and for the privacy and safety of girls and women in their school bathrooms and locker rooms.”
“For these many states to argue so aggressively that they must be free to discriminate against their own residents is alarming and appalling.”
The Justice Department, the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission were named as defendants in the suit and did not issue a statement prior to publication. Although the Biden administration attempted to dismiss the case, Atchley denied this request, issuing a preliminary injunction preventing the enforcement of the policy until the courts resolve the issue.
The Biden administration first issued the directives in June 2021, which it claimed were intended to build on a 2020 Supreme Court decision finding that LGBTQ2S+ workers are protected from discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. At the time, the White House further declared that it would view anti-trans discrimination as a violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex-based dicrimination in federally funded education.
The moves were intended to restore some Obama-era protections for LGBTQ2S+ students that had been rolled back during the Trump era, such as allowing trans students to use names and bathrooms that reflect their gender identity.
Jennifer C. Pizer, chief legal officer for the LGBTQ2S+ advocacy group Lambda Legal, claimed last week’s court ruling demonstrates “a disturbingly blinkered view of this area of law.” She said that Atchley, a Trump appointee, overlooked the fact that many federal court decisions establishing that anti-discrimination laws apply to LGBTQ2S+ people.
“For these many states to argue so aggressively that they must be free to discriminate against their own residents is alarming and appalling,” she told The New York Times.
The decision could be likely to fuel further attacks on LGBTQ2S+ people across the United States during a record year for discriminatory legislation. According to the Human Rights Campaign, more than 300 anti-LGBTQ2S+ bills have been introduced in 2022, with at least 130 targeting trans youth. Many of these bills deny trans young people gender-affirming medical care, restrict their bathroom use in schools and limit their participation in high school and college sports.
Tennessee, which led the lawsuit against the Biden administration, has been ground zero for these efforts. Last year, five laws were passed targeting LGBTQ2S+ people, including ones that ban trans students from playing for sports teams corresponding to their gender identity and denying them access to school restrooms. This year, conservative lawmakers in Tennessee pushed to allow teachers to misgender trans students.
Democrats in the U.S. have pushed back against these attacks. In June, Biden issued an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to expand LGBTQ2S+ healthcare and ordering the Department of Education to create inclusive school policies. Later that same month, House Democrats introduced a “Trans Bill of Rights” that would outlaw conversion therapy and codify LGBTQ2S+rights related to workplace discrimination.
Why you can trust Xtra
