Texas v. USA Case Hearing In Wichita Falls Friday

For those of you in the Wichita Falls area, the unjust federal transphobic lawsuit that Ken Paxton filed is going to get another hearing on Friday

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS WICHITA FALLS DIVISION STATE OF TEXAS et al.,Plaintiffs,v.UNITED STATES et al., Defendants.§§§§§§§§§§Civil Action No. 7:16-cv-00054-O ORDER Before the Court is Defendants’ Motion for Clarification of the Court’s Preliminary Injunction Order and Unopposed Request for Expedited Consideration (ECF No. 65), filed September 12, 2016.

This motion is set for hearing at 9:30 AM on September 30, 2016. The hearing will take place in the District Judge’s Courtroom, 2nd floor, 1000 Lamar Street,Wichita Falls, Texas.

SO ORDERED on this 26th day of September, 2016.
This motion is set for hearing at 9:30 AM on September 30, 2016. The hearing will take place in the District Judge’s Courtroom, 2nd floor, 1000 Lamar Street,Wichita Falls, Texas.

SO ORDERED on this 26th day of September, 2016.

The Texas v USA case will be heard starting at 9 AM CDT in the 2nd floor District Judge's Courtroom.  If you are a friend, ally to the trans community,or parents of a trans child and can make it to Wichita Falls for that hearing, Equality Texas wants to chat with you

You can also get in contact with Erika Richie of PFLAG Houston and she'll pass on your availability to Equality Texas.

I hope the courtroom is packed with our family and supporters Friday morning, and this time justice prevails.

PFLAG Statement on Unjust Texas vs. United States Case

PFLAG National Executive Director Jody M. Huckaby has issued the following statement concerning the unjust injunction issued by GW Bush appointed US District Judge Reed O'Connor in the Texas vs United States case..

The injunction issued today by US District Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas v. United States puts transgender students even further in harm's way.  Thousands of PFLAG families across the country are already having to navigate school environments that marginalize their trans kids; this ruling only adds fuel to the discriminatory fire.  

 The unfounded fears of a few should not and must not outweigh the safety and dignity of transgender students, who simply want to learn in a secure and welcoming environment, as all students do.

School administrators have a responsibility to create such an environment for all students who walk through their doors, and this injunction does not bar them from implementing inclusive policies to do so.  

Thanks Jody and PFLAG for having the trans community's backs as standup allies even when it wasn't the cool thing to do, and while this ruling stinks, knowing that our allies are standing with us to help us fight it on behalf of our trans kids is comforting to us as trans elders and parents of trans kids.

Unjust Injunction Granted In Texas vs United States Trans Rights Case

The transphobic oppressors won a round in federal district court as US District Judge Reed O'Connor, a known anti-LGBT rights oppressor and GW Bush judicial appointee issued a preliminary nationwide injunction Sunday against the federal government's DOE/DOJ guidance to public schools regarding their legal responsibility to allow transgender students to use the same restrooms as other cisgender students.

Translation: the current jacked up status quo is in place until the lawsuit flied by my indicted attorney general works its way through the federal court system.  The federal government can appeal the injunction and request a stay of it if they wish to the appellate court or the SCOTUS.

All elections at every level of government matter.  Presidential elections matter because they get to select SCOTUS and federal judges.  If you're pissed off about this ruling, keep that in mind on November 8.

Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Texas, the Transgender Law Center, the GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) and National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) had submitted a joint friend of the court amicus brief in the lawsuit by Texas and 10 other Republican controlled states subsequently joined by two others against the United States, the Departments of Education, Justice and Labor and several federal officials

Those organizations issued a joint statement shortly after Judge O'Connor's unjust ruling.:

A ruling by a single judge in one circuit cannot and does not undo the years of clear legal precedent nationwide establishing that transgender students have the right to go to school without being singled out for discrimination. This unfortunate and premature ruling may, however, confuse school districts that are simply trying to support their students, including their transgender students.

 So let us make it clear to those districts: your obligations under the law have not changed, and you are still not only allowed but required to treat transgender students fairly.

The scope of this injunction has no effect on the ability of other courts or lawyers representing transgender people to continue to rely on the federal government’s interpretations of Title IX or on prior decisions that have reached similar conclusions about the scope of federal sex discrimination laws. 

The court’s misguided decision targets a small, vulnerable group of young people – transgender elementary and high school students – for potential continued harassment, stigma and abuse.

Those five civil rights organizations pointed out that Judge O'Connor failed to consider the interests of the transgender students the federal laws sought to protect,  and pledged "We will continue to file lawsuits representing transgender students and litigate them to the fullest extent of the law-regardless of what happens with this particular federal guidance."

Chuck Smith, the CEO of Equality Texas also expressed his organization's disappointed over the unjust ruling.

We are disappointed by the ruling, but despite this setback, we are hopeful and know that the civil rights of all students will ultimately prevail. 

Transgender Texans, and in particular transgender kids, must be afforded the most basic dignity to use the restroom. Paxton’s actions seek to punish and harm transgender students who have done nothing wrong. 

We will continue to fight with the parents of these children until “ALL” children do not face discrimination and are treated equally under the law.
An injunction doesn't change what existing law is. It would only apply to the DOJ's issuance of its interpretation. So schools still need to comply with the law. Title IX and VII still prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.

This decision does nothing to prevent school districts to work with parents on an individual basis to ensure they are protected in school and do not face bullying, alienation or discrimination.

In the ruling, Judge O’Conner said, “the difficult policy issue is not a subject of his order.” We believe this civil rights issue will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The band of trans oppressor states joining together to gleefully oppress trans students in addition to my home state of Texas, includes Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky (through its GOP Gov. Matt Bevin) Louisiana, Mississippi, (through its GOP Gov. Phil Bryant ), Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.   Other plaintiffs seeking to oppress trans students are the  Arizona Department of Education, the Heber-Overgaard Unified School District in Arizona, Harrold ISD in Texas and Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R)

The good news is that many of these plaintiffs are in the Fourth, Sixth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits which have already issued binding appellate rulings that are consistent with the guidance of the federal agencies.

This is just the opening rounds of this court battle.  I'm positive there is going to be a day coming soon that I will have good news to report when it comes to this Texas v United States case and common sense and justice will prevail.

Paxton's Unjust Anti-Trans Lawsuit Being Heard In Federal Court

School is about to start in the over 1000 independent school districts in Texas and elsewhere, and our indicted GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton, fresh off a loss from his futile defense of the unjust Texas voter suppression law has now turned his attention toward oppressing trans people.

Yesterday Paxton asked for an expedited ruling in their federal lawsuit they have filed against the DOE/DOJ Dear College letter guidelines that encourage school districts to not discriminate against their transgender students.

But since the Republican Party is now politically invested in oppressing transgender people for their nefarious political gain, of course he would lead twelve other Republican controlled states in the effort.

The case is being heard in Judge Reed O'Connor's court in Fort Worth, and I'm nervous about it because this judge is a GW Bush appointee and has an anti-LGBT rights history.

However, the fact that after a two hour hearing Judge O'Connor didn't issue a ruling in either direction may be a good sign.

But until he actually announces it, it could go either way.  Because of this judge's anti-LGBT history and being a GW Bush appointee, I'm not expecting positive news out of Fort Worth

We'l see if Judge O'Connor rejects Paxton's and attorney Austin Nimock's argument that the federal government has usurped the authority of states and schools by requiring that sexes must be mixed in  'intimate areas' like bathrooms.

The administration is arguing that discrimination against transgender students violates federal nondiscrimination statutes, violates Title IX, and gives transgender students the right to use their prefered bathroom in public school, and requires schools to treat a students gender identity as the student's sex for the purposes of Title IX compliance.

I have an idea what Republicans like Paxton and his transphobic friends have historically done in bathrooms since they are so overly fixated on them.

But we are tired of in Trans World the GOP doing nonstop fear mongering about them.

Texas so far has not only jumped the gun by filing this lawsuit before the DOE/DOJ guidelines have had time to be enacted so we can see their effects in real time, but have also not shown so far how the DOE/DOJ guidelines have 'irreparably harmed Texas and the other states suing for the right to continue to oppress trans children.

This is also about Texas and its 12 co -conspirators wanting to continue to hate on President Obama by any means necessary, Dan patrick and Greg Abbott trying to divert attention from their SB 14 court loss, and Paxton trying to deflect from his own legal problems at the expense of our human rights.

Down Goes The Texas Voter Suppression Law Again!

You know how much I despise the Texas voter suppression law that is considered one of the most restrictive in the nation.  The GOP dictatorship controlled Texas legislature passed the law in 2011 to as they gleefully admit suppress the votes of Black and Latino Texans in their desperate bid to keep political control of a state that  non-white Texans since 2009 have been the dominant population group.

SB 14 requires Texans to have one of six forms of ID, a Texas driver's license or ID card, a concealed handgun license, a US passport, a military ID card or a US citizenship certificate with a photo.

African American and Latinx Texans have contended since the unjust SB 14 law was passed in 2011 that it was discriminatory, and have been fighting it in court ever since.  Texas, and specifically our texas republican overlords keep spending our Lone Star tax dollars ($3.5 million) so far to keep the unjust law in effect.

Doing the happy dance right now because the Dallas Morning News is reporting the Texas voter suppression law was once again struck down in federal court under the VRA's Section 2.

In a 9-6 en banc ruling. the 5th Circuit affirmed previous rulings that the Texas Voter ID Suppression Law violates federal laws prohibiting racial discrimination in elections and struck it down today..

'The record shows that the drafters and proponents of SB 14 were aware of the likely disproportionate effect of the law on minorities, and that they nonetheless passed the bill without adopting a number of proposed ameliorative measures that might have lessened this impact," wrote Judge Catharina Haynes in her ruling.  BTW, in case you're keeping score, surprise surprise, Judge Haynes is a GW Bush appointee.

I'm not the only Texan happy about this ruling.   The Texas Democratic Party and a long list of liberal social justice groups are hailing the decision striking down the odious SB 14.

"Texas Republican's discriminatory Voter ID law has held some 700,000 Texans away from their right to vote for many elections now," said Gilberto Hinojosa, the chair of the Texas Democratic Party as he commented on the decision. "Unfortunately, that damage by Republicans has already been done to our families.  However we can now look forward to a fairer election system, worthy of our great state. This is a huge win for voting rights in Texas and across the nation."

The law has been struck down now three times, twice under the now eviscerated Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, and now under Section 2 of the VRA,   May it stay dead.

4th Circuit Denies En Banc Review In Gavin Grimm Case!

Good news for transkind from Richmond, VA.   Several hours ago the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Gloucester County Schools request to hold an en banc hearing in the Grimm vs Gloucester School Board case.   In an en banc review, all the active judges in the 4th Circuit court review the case, and there are currently 15 active judges in the 4th Circuit..

That means the favorable April ruling in the Grimm case stands, and the school board's only option is to take it to the US Supreme Court   The dissent in this ruling came from not surprisingly, Judge Paul Niemeyer (GHW Bush appointee) , who was on the dissenting end of the three judge panel that heard the Grimm case in April .

Of course, Grimm was ecstatic about yesterday's ruling from the 4th Circuit.

“Now that the Fourth Circuit’s decision is final, I hope my school board will finally do the right thing and let me go back to using the boys’ restroom again,” said Gavin Grimm, the high school junior who is the plaintiff in the case. “Transgender kids should not have to sue their own school boards just for the ability to use the same restrooms as everyone else.”

Also happy about the ruling are the folks fighting Hate Bill 2 in North Carolina, since it is under the 4th Circuit's jurisdiction.  .Three cases to strike down HB2 are pending in federal court in addition to the lawsuit the Department of Justice filed against the state several weeks ago.    

We need to stay tuned to see what happens next in this case and if the Gloucester School Board wants to continue being on the wrong side of history and pushing this all the way to the Supreme Court.

US 4th Circuit Court Of Appeals Rules In Favor Of Gavin Grimm!

In a closely watched case that will possibly have an effect on North Carolina's Hate Bill 2,  a federal appeals court ruled today that a policy barring Virginia trans masculine student Gavin Grimm from using the bathroom matching his current gender presentation at his high school is unconstitutional!

The three judge panel of the US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA  overturned the Gloucester County School Board's unjust policy in a 2-1 decision.

US District Court Judge Robert G. Doumar  (Reagan appointee) last year had previously sided with the Gloucester County School Board in the GG vs Gloucester County Schools case, denying Grimm's sex discrimination claim because in his words, 'Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and not on the basis of other concepts such as gender, gender identity or sexual orientation."

The three judge panel said otherwise   Judges Henry Floyd and Andre Davis (Obama appointees) ruled in favor, judge Paul Niemeyer (GHW Bush appointee) was the dissenting judge.

'Because we conclude the district court did not accord appropriate deference to the relevant Department of Education regulations, we reverse its dismissal of G.G.'s Title IX claim. Because we conclude that the district court used the wrong evidentiary standard in assessing G.G.'s motion for a preliminary injunction, we vacate its denial and remand for consideration under the correct standard.  We therefore reverse in part, vacate in part, and remade the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.'  

The Justice Department filed a 'statement of interest' in this case declaring that failure to allow transgender students to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity was sex discrimination. .

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling establishes legal precedent in every state in the circuit that includes, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina and North Carolina.

"I feel so relieved and vindicated by the court's ruling,' said Grimm in a statement released from the ACLU. "today's ruling gives me hope that my fight with help other kids avoid discriminatory treatment at school."

Stay tuned, because we trans folks may have just gotten another legal hammer to whack HB 2 with  

This case also emphatically points out that elections not only matter, the person sitting in the Oval Office selecting who goes onto these federal judicial benches matters, too.