Here’s another of my straight-news aggregation pieces, which will now be frequent here, after running at “Liberty Headlines.” No opinion here, just summaries. — Quin
Conservative legal groups reacted with pleasure Monday to a U.S. Supreme Court action that, for now, will block transgender students from practicing any automatic privilege of using whichever bathroom they choose.
The Richmond, Va.-based Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G. that schools must comply with an Obama administration directive allowing students to use the bathroom of whatever gender they “identify” with. (The directive originally had come from an “Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary” of the Education Department, James Ferg-Cadima, and was subsequently affirmed by a “Dear Colleague” letter from the Obama Justice and Education departments.) Traditionalist groups and numerous legal scholars were aghast at the ruling, saying it completely mischaracterized federal law while risking violations of students’ privacy and safety.
On Feb. 22, the new Trump administration withdrew the Obama directive. In light of that (which effectively re-reverses federal-agency policy back to where it stood pre-Obama, meaning no such automatic privileges for transgendered people), the Supreme Court vacated the Fourth Circuit decision and asked the lower court to reconsider the case. For now, then, schools are free to forbid students from using bathrooms different from what their physiognomy would indicate.
“The first duty of school districts is to protect the bodily privacy rights of all of the students who attend their schools and to respect the rights of parents who understandably don’t want their children exposed in intimate changing areas like locker rooms and showers,” said Kerry Kupec, legal counsel for the conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom, in a statement after the high court’s action. The Alliance, known for winning numerous legal cases in defense of religious liberty, had filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the school system, against the Obama administration.
….. [later in the story]…
Nonetheless, liberal groups and politicians cried foul.
“Deeply disappointed by SCOTUS decision,” Tweeted Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington State. “[B]ut let’s be clear, #transgenderstudents remain protected under Title IX.”
“The American people have already moved in the right direction and … the rights of trans people cannot be ignored,” said Joshua Block of the American Civil Liberties Union. “This is a detour, not the end of the road, and we’ll continue to fight for Gavin and other transgender people to ensure that they are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.”…
The whole story is here.
