As students return, Alabama urges schools to ignore Obama's transgender bathroom order

Gender neutral bathrooms have become a controversial topic nationwide (Photo: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — As public school students across Alabama returned to class Wednesday, Attorney General Luther Strange reiterated that he believes local schools should disregard President Barack Obama’s transgender bathroom order until the issue works its way through the federal court system.

Alabama and a coalition of 13 states have filed a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court against the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, for promoting a federal directive that local schools must allow transgender access to campus restrooms or face a loss of federal funds.

The filing included an affidavit from the Alabama Department of Education detailing the extensive federal funds at risk because of the “illegal order” and the impact the loss of such funds would have on Alabama school children.

“On May 26, I wrote a letter to the State Board of Education advising Alabama educators to ignore the May 13 federal guidance letter which attempts to change the law by redefining a student’s sex in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to mean ‘gender identity,’” Attorney General Strange told Yellowhammer in a statement. “I continue to stand behind my advice to state schools not to follow the Obama administration’s transgender guidance until the issue is settled in federal court… We hope to receive a decision soon.”

Strange noted that the U.S. Supreme Court recently stayed (put a hold on) a lower federal court order that would have forced a Virginia high school “to allow transgender access to school restrooms based on gender preference.” Alabamians opposed to the similar mandate issued by the Obama administration see the ruling as a reason for optimism.

“This is a positive development and an indication that the U.S. Supreme Court could eventually overturn the Obama administration’s order,” said Attorney General Strange. “I believe Alabama and the other states will ultimately prevail in federal court against the new restroom order because federal law allows schools to have separate facilities based on the ‘sex’ of the individual, not their gender preference.”

Four Alabama congressmen have also signed on to a letter demanding President Barack Obama walk back his effort to coerce all public schools around the country to offer gender-neutral bathrooms.

The decision, which the administration claims “gives administrators, teachers, and parents the tools they need to protect transgender students from peer harassment and to identify and address unjust school policies,” will affect all of Alabama’s 1,637 public schools that service almost 745,000 children.

“There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

In response, congressmen Bradley Byrne (R-AL1), Robert Aderholt (R-AL4), Mo Brooks (R-AL5) and Gary Palmer (R-AL6) signed on to a letter to President Obama, which reads as follows:

Dear President Obama:

We are extremely concerned with the recent directive from your Administration threatening legal actions against or denial of congressionally appropriated funds to local school districts that do not allow students to use their bathroom of choice regardless of gender. We ask that you rescind your poorly executed threat to school districts across the country and reaffirm their right to govern themselves as they see fit within the bounds of the law.

To date, neither statute nor legal precedent has extended civil rights protections based on gender identity. Furthermore your actions threaten to infringe on the constitutional right of Congress to appropriate funds. We view this as an effort to implement your Administration’s political agenda outside the bounds of the law and against the will of the American people.

We insist that you withdraw this legally unfounded threat immediately.

President Obama defended his plan, telling BuzzFeed News it is society’s duty to protect vulnerable students.

“We’re talking about kids, and anybody who’s been in school, been in high school, who’s been a parent, I think should realize that kids who are sometimes in the minority — kids who have a different sexual orientation or are transgender — are subject to a lot of bullying, potentially they are vulnerable,” Obama said. “I think that it is part of our obligation as a society to make sure that everybody is treated fairly, and our kids are all loved, and that they’re protected and that their dignity is affirmed.”