RALEIGH, N.C. — Politicians in Texas, Arkansas and elsewhere vowed defiance — and other conservative states could follow suit — after the Obama administration told public schools across the U.S. on Friday to let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
The federal government’s guidance was met with tearful praise from parents of transgender students.
“It’s heartbreaking that these kids are losing their lives because they can’t be accepted,” Hope Tyler, who has a transgender son at a Raleigh high school, said in reference to suicides among transgender people. “Somebody has to speak for the kids.”
The directive from the U.S. Justice and Education Departments was sent to schools across the country and represents an escalation in the fast-moving dispute over what is becoming the civil rights issue of the day.
It came just days after the Justice Department and North Carolina sued each other over a state law requiring transgender people to use the public bathroom that corresponds to the sex on their birth certificate. The law applies to schools and many other places.
While supporters say the law is needed to protect women and children from sexual predators, the Justice Department and others argue that the threat is practically nonexistent and the law discriminatory.
The guidance issued on Friday is not legally binding, since the question of whether federal civil rights law protects transgender people has not been definitively answered by the courts and may ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.
But schools that refuse to comply could be hit with civil rights lawsuits from the government, and the Obama administration could also try to cut off federal aid to schools to force compliance.
Texas’ lieutenant governor said the state is prepared to forfeit billions rather than let the Obama administration dictate restroom policy for its 5.2 million students.
“We will not be blackmailed by the president’s 30 pieces of silver,” Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said.