Texas Attorney General’s anti-LGBT zeal knows no limits

by Rob Howard
Associate Editor

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton seems to continuously be at the center of legal action to take away rights from LGBT people, not just in Texas, but across the country. His latest, Tuesday, August 23, was to file a lawsuit that would overturn federal regulations on providing transgender persons with healthcare.

And he doesn’t just file lawsuits with any federal court. He very carefully attempts to get a judge that he believes (or knows) is sympathetic to his anti-LGBT views, assigned to the case. In the case yesterday, and in one against the rights of transgender students, that jurist is Federal District Judge Reed O’Connor.

Earlier this week Judge Reed put the joint Departments of Education and Justice guidance for school districts on how trans students should be treated on hold nationwide, which is believed by legal scholars to far exceed his authority.

After yesterday’s action, filed again with Judge Reed, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) said, “Today, HRC blasted a federal lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the extremist Becket Fund for Religious Liberty that seeks to overturn a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulation implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act which bars discrimination in health insurance and by health providers accepting federal funds.

“In the lawsuit, Texas -- joined by Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska and Wisconsin -- asks the federal government to block enforcement of the rule, which clarifies that federal protections barring discrimination based on sex include an individual’s gender identity and covers reproductive health. This lawsuit marks the latest attempt by Paxton to discriminate against LGBTQ Texans because of who they are.”

HRC goes on to note that, “In March of 2015, Judge O’Connor also sought to block Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) rights for legally married same-sex couples despite the Supreme Court of the United States' decision in United States v. Windsor (2013).

The New York Times’ editorial staff today described how Paxton carefully shops for plaintiffs in areas where Judge Reed will be the assigned judge. “Just days after the federal Department of Education in May issued sensible antidiscrimination guidelines for accommodating transgender students, Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton, set out to challenge them.

“His team reached out to tiny school districts in North Texas to persuade them to adopt policies that would require transgender students to use bathrooms according to the gender on their birth certificates — which would put them at odds with the Education Department’s new transgender guidelines.

“In recent years, federal agencies, including the Education Department, have taken the position that discrimination on the basis of gender identity is a form of sex discrimination, prohibited under federal law, including the Civil Rights Act.

“Zeroing in on North Texas, the attorney general’s office encouraged the Harrold Independent School District to adopt an anti-transgender bathroom policy. The choice of district was no accident. Though there was no controversy surrounding transgender students in Harrold, the state’s lawyers knew that any case challenging the federal policy brought there would be assigned to Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas.”

After noting Judge Reed’s prior actions, The Times concluded, “These legal assaults on equal protection for transgender Americans are based on bigotry and the specious claim that they pose a threat to the safety of others. The toll exacted on this vulnerable population is heavy and will remain so as these cases and other litigation involving transgender laws move through the courts.”

LGBT persons, activists and advocates would do well to watch the actions of Attorney General Paxton when it comes to suppressing the rights of LGBT people across the whole county.

The Gayly – August 24, 2016 @ 4 p.m.