(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – A federal judge has issued a ruling which has stopped the enforcement of the so-called transgender directive by the administration of President Joe Biden.
The directive allowed transgender athletes to use whichever bathroom they would like to, that is, to make their “bathroom choice” based on their self-decided gender identity rather than based on the male or female sex with which they were born.
The same directive also allowed gender-based competition in sports – so that men claiming to be women could compete against girls and women. Or vice versa, women claiming to be men could theoretically compete against boys and men.
Biden’s transgender directive has been blocked by a federal judge of the Eastern District of Tenessee, Judge Charles Atchley Jr, appointed by former President Donald Trump, Reuters reported.
His ruling came in response to a lawsuit against the pro-gender ideology policy filed last year by 20 Republican state attorneys general.
They protested the federal directive since it contradicted state laws banning transgender individuals from using whichever bathroom they might want to choose.
“[The states] cannot continue regulating pursuant to their state laws while simultaneously complying with Defendants’ guidance,” Judge Atchley stated in his opinion, referring to the Justice Department, the Education Department, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The judge found the three bodies in question to have improperly used a ruling of the US Supreme Court to justify the bathroom directive technically issued by Biden’s Department of Education.
In the 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County case, the Supreme Court ruled that laws against workplace sex discrimination also cover sexual orientation and gender identity. However, it abstained from ruling on “sex-segregated bathrooms.”
“[The new decision by Judge Atchley is] a major victory for women’s sports and for the privacy and safety of girls and women in their school bathrooms and locker rooms,” commented Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor.
He is one of the 20 GOP attorneys generals that have opposed the transgender directive.
