Family Research Council Statement on Judge's Rebuke of Obama's Overreach on Bathrooms

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Yesterday, Judge Reed O'Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Obama administration's edict seeking to force schools to allow biological males to use girls' showers, locker rooms, and restrooms, and vice versa. This ruling comes on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court's stay in the Gloucester County, Virginia schools case, and is a rebuke to the Obama administration's aggressive activism on this issue.

Judge O'Connor found that the administration bypassed the Administrative Procedures Act by failing to open its new "guidelines" up for notice and comment, and ruled that the existing law and regulation are "not ambiguous" in defining "sex" as a reference to one's biological sex at birth, rather than self-professed "gender identity." For this reason, the administration's view is not entitled to deference by the courts. Notably, the ruling differs from the 4^th Circuit's ruling on the issue earlier this year in the Gloucester case.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement:

"Judge O'Connor's opinion is a win for parental rights and the privacy of schoolchildren nationwide, and a win for Texas and twelve other states which sued the administration over its coercive bathroom policy. The Obama administration went far beyond the limits of its constitutional and statutory authority to rewrite laws legally adopted by Congress.  These federal agencies are attempting to use the bully pulpit to strip parents and local school districts of the right to provide a safe learning environment for their children by forcing them to adopt controversial shower and bathroom policies. 

"I encourage parents in every school district in America to demand that their local school boards not sacrifice the privacy and safety of their children because of this administration's pursuit of political correctness.  

"If the American people do not speak up now on an issue like this, there's no limit to what President Obama's administration, or future liberal presidents, will be emboldened to do," Perkins concluded.

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SOURCE Family Research Council

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