Trump-appointed judge bars 4 red states from unraveling LGBTQ+ student protections

Four Republican states have failed in their effort to dismantle protections for LGBTQ+ students. A federal judge broke with six others to uphold court precedent and continue the Biden administration’s anti-discrimination policies in schools, Reuters reports.

On Tuesday, US District Judge Annemarie Axon dismissed arguments plaintiffs representing Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina used to sue the Department of Education over its LGBTQ+ student policy.

Related

Conservatives have a bonkers new theory about Kamala voters and trans folks would like a word

When Fox commentator Jesse Watters recently made some comments about Kamala Harris voters, trans eyebrows everywhere were raised.

“Although Plaintiffs may dislike the Department’s rules, they have failed to show a substantial likelihood of success in proving the Department’s rulemaking was unreasonable or not reasonably explained,” Axon, an appointee of former president Trump, wrote.

Culture, unfiltered

Twice a week, our newsletter will bring you the pulse of queer culture, from the tastemakers to the groundbreakers.

The lawsuit revolves around the interpretation of Title IX, the 1972 law that bans sex discrimination in the classroom. In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v Clayton County that protections against sex discrimination in the workplace (outlined within Title VII of the Civil Rights Act) covered gender identity and sexual orientation, given that anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination requires taking into account a person’s sex.

The Department of Education subsequently extended the ruling to Title IX. Under this rule, which the Department issued in April, schools cannot refuse to respect a student’s pronouns or bar their access to restrooms and changing rooms that align with their gender identity. 

Although the plaintiffs argued that this policy represented an overstep, Axon agreed that the Department of Education’s interpretation of Title IX was in line with the Bostock decision. “At their core, Plaintiffs’ arguments are not that the Department exceeded the zone of reasonableness, but rather, that Plaintiffs disagree as a policy matter,” she wrote.

While Axon’s ruling bars 4 states from blocking Department of Education policy, over 20 other states have filed similar legal challenges. 21 states are currently blocking enforcement, whereas 15 states have filed briefs in support of the rule.

Axon’s decision will remain in effect in those states while these legal challenges work their way through the court system, likely heading for the Supreme Court. Even with legal precedent in the form of Bostock, the current conservative makeup of the Supreme Court has been shown to disregard precedent where civil rights are concerned. Additionally, undoing the Department of Education’s interpretation of Title IX is a key goal of Project 2025.