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Federal court maintains block on Obama’s transgender bathroom directive

A federal judge blocked President Barack Obama's transgender school bathroom order.
A federal judge blocked President Barack Obama’s transgender school bathroom order.

A federal mandate forcing public schools to allow students to use the bathroom matching their gender identity or face losing federal dollars has hit another road block in court.

This week, a federal judge upheld an injunction that temporarily blocks the rule from going into effect. It doesn’t change the law’s current status; the directive had already been temporarily on hold. However, the new decision will buy opponents more time, as a federal judge is now requiring states suing against the rule to provide certain additional evidence for their argument. New documents must be submitted before the end of the month.

Included in the federal suit against the president’s rule is Alabama, which joined a coalition of 12 other states earlier this year in attempt to block the rule. Weeks after, a judge issued an injunction that has effectively stopped the mandate from being implemented.

Attorney General Luther Strange said in August that a hold on the President’s mandate is a “victory” for families in the state.

“I joined the multi-state lawsuit against the Obama administration in May to prevent Alabama schools from being forced to surrender their restroom access policies to social experimenters in Washington. I am pleased the federal court has agreed to our request to stay the controversial order while our lawsuit challenging the legality of the transgender order continues,” he said at the time.

Attorney General Strange has recommended that public schools ignore the proposed law, though some universities have implemented the plan anyway.

Alabama Southern University (ASU) is one school that went forward with a gender-identity friendly policy. In anticipation of backlash against the decision, ASU’s president agreed to issue a “100 percent refund” on tuition, housing, and meal plans immediately following the college’s announcement.

Whenever a final decision is determined by the court system, it will affect all of Alabama’s 1,637 public schools that service almost 745,000 children.

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