Gov. Greg Abbott orders Texas to ignore Biden administration’s new federal protections of LGBTQ+ studentsThe Texas Tribune by Sneha Dey April 29, 2024
The new Title IX rules expanded the definition of sex-based harassment. Texas is also suing the Biden administration to block the changes.Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Education Agency on Monday to ignore a Biden administration rule that expanded federal sex discrimination protections to include LGBTQ+ students.
The Biden administration recently revised the rules for Title IX, the sweeping civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at federally funded colleges and K-12 schools. The new rules, which are set to go into effect in August, redefined sex discrimination and sex-based harassment to prevent misconduct based on sex stereotypes, pregnancy, gender identity and sexual orientation. It codifies initial guidance documents that prompted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to sue the Biden administration last year.
"Congress wrote Title IX to protect women. Biden, with no authority to do so, rewrote Title IX to protect men who identify as women," Abbott wrote Monday on social media platform X.
Abbott's order came the same day Paxton announced he had sued the Biden administration Monday to block the Title IX changes. Texas joins a growing number of Republican-led states that have berated the new rules, setting the stage for a legal fight over LGBTQ+ student protections. They say the Biden administration misinterpreted the intent of Title IX.
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