The Daily Caller reports that a federal judge has ruled that President Joe Biden and his administration went too far with the protections that it provided for LGBTQ employees.
This goes back to the guidance that the Biden administration, via the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), released in 2021.
Background
The Biden administration released the guidance following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County.
Here, the justices extended the protections afforded by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ruling that Title VII does protect employees from discrimination in the workplace that is based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Biden administration, subsequently, tried to capitalize on this ruling by putting forth the aforementioned guidance.
What the guidance did, among other things, was allow LGBTQ individuals to select the pronouns and to use the bathrooms of their choosing – the pronouns and bathrooms that align with their chosen gender.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), in September 2021, responded to the guidance with a lawsuit. Paxton, in doing so, made several arguments, including that the guidance “increases the scope of liability for all employers.”
Paxton wins
This week, District Court Judge for the Northern District of Texas Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled in Paxton’s favor.
Kacsmaryk essentially ruled that the Biden administration went too far with the guidance. He ruled that, while Bostock makes it clear that Title VII protections apply to LGBTQ employees by stopping discriminatory hiring practices, it does “not necessarily” protect against “all correlated conduct,” such as using the bathrooms of one’s choosing.
It is unclear whether the Biden administration will appeal the ruling. Chances are that it probably will.
For now, though, Paxton is celebrating the win.
Paxton said:
The court decision’s is not only a win for the rule of law, but for the safety and protection of Texas children. The Biden Administration’s attempts to radicalize federal law to track its woke political beliefs are beyond dangerous. I will continue to push back against these unlawful attempts to use federal agencies to normalize extremist positions that put millions of Texans at risk.