Tennessee Federal Court Blocks Biden’s Forcing Of Radical Gender Policy On States
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The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
A federal policy that would force states to allow transgender athletes to participate on the sports team of the gender with which they identify has been temporarily blocked by a U.S. District court in Tennessee.
Biden’s policy would also allow transgender individuals to use restrooms and other facilities designated for the opposite biological sex.
On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Atchley, Jr., sided with 20 state attorneys general who filed suit against the Biden administration in August 2021. In the lawsuit, they argue that those agencies are “usurping authority that properly belongs to Congress, the States, and the people and to eliminate the nationwide confusion and upheaval that the agencies’ recent guidance has inflicted on States and other regulated entities.”
According to the attorneys, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Education were both overstepping their roles by creating guidelines that were in opposition of existing and forthcoming state laws regarding gender.
In June 2021, the Department of Education said that refusing to allow individuals to participate based on gender identity would be discrimination that was a violation of Title IX. New guidelines were also released from the EEOC for private businesses. However, the request for the temporary injunction was made as many states already created or were in the process of creating their own legislation regarding the issue.
In his statement on Friday, Atchley wrote, “As demonstrated above, the harm alleged by Plaintiff states is already occurring – their sovereign power to enforce their own legal code is hampered by the issuance of Defendants’ guidance and they face substantial pressure to change their state laws as a result.”
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Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery was at the forefront of the lawsuit. He says that the federal departments were using a misinterpretation of the Supreme Court case Bostock vs. Clayton County. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that it was a violation of Title VII to factor gender identity or sexual orientation into any hiring or firing decisions.
“These agencies have misconstrued the Supreme Court’s Bostock decision by claiming its prohibition of discrimination applies to locker rooms, showers, and bathrooms under Title IX and Title VII and biological men who identify as women competing in women’s sports, when the Supreme Court specifically said it was not deciding those issues in Bostock,” stated Slatery in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Biden and his administration “purports to resolve highly controversial and localized issues such as…whether individuals may be compelled to use another person’s preferred pronouns. But the agencies have no authority to resolve those sensitive questions, let alone to do so by executive fiat without providing any opportunity for public participation.”
The temporary injunction will keep the DOE from enacting sanctions against schools or colleges that did not allow transgender individuals to access sports and facilities based on gender identity.
Following the judge’s ruling, Slatery released the following statement:
“The District Court rightly recognized the federal government put Tennessee and other states in an impossible situation: choose between the threat of legal consequences including the withholding of federal funding – or altering our state laws to comply. Keep in mind these new, transformative rules were made without you – without your elected leaders in Congress having a say, which is what the law requires. We are thankful the Court put a stop to it, maintained the status quo as the lawsuit proceeds, and reminded the federal government it cannot direct its agencies to rewrite the law.”
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
