Department Of Justice Maintains Injunction On Transgender Bathroom Motion

The U.S. Department of Justice has submitted a court filing to withdraw the motion on transgender bathroom filed by the Obama administration. The motion seeks to allow transgender student in the public schools to use restroom based on the gender that they identify themselves

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions filed the request on Friday, Feb. 10 as reported by United Press International. The motion was filed by last year that asked a judge to scale back temporary injunction in the transgender bathroom issue, one of the favorite issue for the Obama administration.

The Obama administration issued a guidance last year to allow transgender students to use the bathroom they identify themselves with. The argument cited Title IX of federal law that guarantees equality in education.

Subsequently, 21 states including Texas challenged the guidance and 13 of them filed the lawsuit. Judge Reed O’Connor from the Federal District Court for the Northern District of then issued the preliminary injunction order on Aug. 21, 2016.

Judge O’Connor stated in his ruling that the Title IX cited by Obama administration is not ambiguous about sex which defines sex as "the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined at their birth." Therefore, the ruling was not about the issues of transgender rights, but simply because the federal directive did not follow the rules before being issued.

Obama administration had requested the injunction to be applied only to 13 states that filed the lawsuit. The motion was filed in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Lousiana. The hearing was scheduled on Tuesday, Feb. 14 as reported by ABC News. However, filing from the government asked the hearing to be canceled.

The transgender bathroom issue has divided the nation and become a national issue. Objections from the states are based on premises that the transgender bathroom usage will give men pretending to be transgender an opportunity to enter women’s bathroom.

Tags

U.S. Department of Justice, Transgender bathroom bill, U.S. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions

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