- Title: Texas Lt. Governor defies Obama's transgender bathroom policy
- Date: 13th May 2016
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - APRIL 18, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SIGNS FOR GENDER NEUTRAL RESTROOM AT SCHOOL BANNER ON DOOR OF MALE RESTROOM READING: "WE JUST NEED TO PEE" VARIOUS OF SIGNS FOR GENDER-NEUTRAL RESTROOM
- Embargoed: 28th May 2016 17:11
- Keywords: Texas bathroom LGBT transgender Obama schools governor Dan Patrick
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK + DALLAS, TEXAS + LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK + DALLAS, TEXAS + LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Lawmaking,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0034HN6WCN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick on Friday (May 13) said the state will not adhere to the Obama administration's edict to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity, rather than their gender at birth.
Speaking to the media in Dallas, Patrick said, "[Obama] has set a policy in place that will divide the country, not along political lines, but along family values and school districts. He says he's going to withhold funding if schools do not follow the policy. Well in Texas, he can keep his 30 pieces of silver. We will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States."
On Friday, officials from the U.S. Education and Justice departments told schools that while the new guidance does not carry legal weight, they are obligated not to discriminate against students, including based on their gender identity.
The guidance contains an implicit threat that those not abiding by the Obama administration's interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.
As a condition of receiving federal funds, the letter said, a school agrees that it will not treat any person in its educational programs or activities differently on the basis of sex.
It added that the administration's interpretation of existing regulations means that a school cannot treat a transgender student differently from other students of the same gender identity.
The issue of access to bathrooms by transgender people flared into a national controversy after North Carolina passed a law in March that made it the first state in the country to ban people from using multiple occupancy restrooms or changing rooms in public buildings and schools that do not match the sex on their birth certificate.
The U.S. Justice Department this week asked a federal district court in North Carolina to declare that the state is violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act and order it to stop enforcing the ban.
North Carolina's Republican governor, Pat McCrory, and the state's secretary of public safety sued the agency in a different federal court in North Carolina, accusing it of "baseless and blatant overreach." - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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