Following recent rulings on the Biden administration’s attempt to redefine Title IX, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an advisory for Texas schools.
The advisory, issued on June 18, instructs Texas school districts not to follow or implement the guidance issued by the Department of Education three years ago that expands the scope of Title IX to apply to LGBTQ students. Title IX is the federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities.
In a June 11 ruling in the case brought by Paxton, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that the DOE’s guidelines were invalid because the agency lacked the power to adopt them, as NBC News reported.
Relatedly, in April, the Biden administration, through the DOE, implemented a “final rule,” amending Title IX to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity, as reported by The Dallas Express. The new “final rule” was intended to go into effect in August 2024, but U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves ruled on June 17 that it could not be enforced while a lawsuit brought by the AGs of six states works its way through the courts. The six states involved in this particular lawsuit are Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, and West Virginia.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona applauded these formal changes, saying they make it “crystal clear that everyone can access schools that are safe, welcoming and that respect their rights,” The New York Times reported.
But in his ruling last week, Reeves said that the DOE “would turn Title IX on its head by redefining ‘sex’ to include ‘gender identity,'” as CNN reported. He added that the “Department’s interpretation conflicts with the plain language of Title IX and therefore exceeds its authority to promulgate regulations under that statute.”
Paxton called O’Connor’s June 11 ruling a “major victory” against the Biden administration and the DOE.
“These radical policies would have enabled the widespread abuse of children. Because of Texas’s victory, students are now safer from abusers and safe from the erasure of the protections enshrined in Title IX, and school districts are protected from illegal threats of lost federal funding,” Paxton said in the advisory, noting that Texas’ state law is clear.
Paxton further stated that parents have a fundamental right to make decisions regarding their children. He added that public schools may not withhold critical information regarding the child from their parents and must get written parental consent to expose children to sexual topics.
He added that Texas law does not provide for “confidentiality” between students and teachers, calling it a “recipe for abuse.”
Paxton states that the DOE’s illegal guidance in the documents would have removed protections for women and created an opportunity for men to abuse and groom children.
“The illegal guidance was a blatant attempt by the DOE and the Biden Administration to effect radical social change in our Nation’s schools by purporting to ‘interpret’ Title IX to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in clear conflict with the text and intent of Title IX. So-called ‘gender modification’ is abuse, and it is one of the worst types of child abuse when it is imposed on children,” Paxton wrote in the advisory.
Paxton noted that the ruling “covers all Texas schools and districts, ensuring that no district in the State will have to comply with the Biden administration’s ‘illegitimate interpretation’ of Title IX.”
Paxton closed the advisory by warning that if any school district in Texas “adopts a policy or procedure that conflicts with or contravenes state law,” he will “pursue every remedy available to protect students and teachers from these illegal and radical policies.”
