Republican Governor Wants to Ensure Transgender Students Are Not Treated Equally
Governor Greg Abbott has just acknowledged Texas will sue the federal government to try to prevent his state from having to respect the civil rights of transgender students. Abbott want to keep trans students from from using restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity. The Republican governor, a former state attorney general who often bragged that he woke up in the morning, sued the Obama administration, then went home every day, confirmed the lawsuit via Twitter:
In doing so, he upstaged the current attorney general, Ken Paxton, who had been teasing out news of the impending lawsuit since Tuesday. Paxton is holding a press conference today at 2:00 PM local time to announce his lawsuit against the Obama administration, as NCRM reported earlier today.
At issue is a “Dear Colleague” letter sent jointly by the Department of Justice and Department of Education that states transgender students cannot be discriminated against. The communication to local school districts also includes 25 pages of best practices and ideas to help schools implement these policies.
NCRM will bring live updates and post live video of the announcement before it begins at 3:00 PM EDT.
Stay tuned.
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Hat tip: Austin Statesman
Image of Gov. Abbott by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC licenseÂ