LITTLE ROCK -- Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today released a statement after U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor issued a nationwide injunction prohibiting the Obama administration from enforcing a directive on public schools across the country to open gender-specific bathrooms and locker rooms to both sexes.
"The administration's intimidation of local school districts with a federal directive that unlawfully ignores the role of Congress has forced half of the states in the nation to stand up against this radical social agenda," said Attorney General Rutledge. "I am pleased that the district court in Texas has acted to protect districts across the country while the full legality of this policy is determined. I am confident it will be determined that the Obama administration once again overstepped in its attempt to rewrite law."
Arkansas along with Kansas, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming joined Nebraska in challenging the administration's policy in U.S. District Court in Nebraska in July, separate from the Texas case. The case in Nebraska will continue.
The Obama administration is attempting to rewrite Congress' use of the term "sex" in federal law to mean "gender identity." Current state law and federal regulations allow schools to maintain separate facilities based upon sex. The recent action by the administration circumvents this established law by ignoring the appropriate legislative process necessary to change it. It also supersedes local school districts' authority to address student issues on an individualized, professional and private basis.
General News on 08/24/2016