Obama's New Restroom Rules Outcry

Congressman Ralph Abraham (R-LA, 5th), introduced legislation on Monday, May 23, that seeks to halt the Obama administration’s executive overreach regarding the transgender bathroom directive handed down to public schools.

Earlier this month, President Obama issued a directive stating that any public school that failed to allow students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that corresponded to their “gender identity” would be found in violation of Title IX. He warned that such a violation could result in the loss of federal funds.

However, Title IX has been widely interpreted to refer to biological sex since it became enacted in 1972. It was originally passed to rectify inequality among the sexes, particularly in regards to athletic opportunities and after school programs.

The bill Dr. Abraham introduced Monday, HR 5307, amends Title IX by simply clarifying that “the term ‘sex’ means with respect to an individual the biological sex of such individual.”

“For 40 years, society and law have interpreted Title IX to refer to a person’s biological sex. Now the President and liberal activists are distorting that meaning to circumvent Congress to enact their radical social agenda. My bill removes any ambiguity in the law to ensure that Title IX's true intent is respected. Transgender bathroom policy decisions should be made on the local and state levels, not by an over-reaching Executive Branch that twists the law to suit its own purposes,” Dr. Abraham said.

The definition of “sex” found in Dr. Abraham’s bill follows the same guidelines used by other arms of the federal government, such as the Census Bureau, which uses biological sex to carry out its constitutional duty to count and catalogue American citizens. The definition is also consistent with the widely accepted medical definitions used by the American Psychological Association.

“The American people are sick and tired of their voices in Congress being ignored by a president who tries to rule like a dictator. Laws are made in Congress, not the White House. The President has no authority to ignore Congress and impose sweeping societal changes that fly in the face of the law, and he certainly has no authority to withhold congressionally appropriated funds to schools that fail to comply with his agenda. Congress should swiftly pass my bill to show the people that their Congress will not stand for an Executive Branch that ignores our Constitution,” Dr. Abraham said.

"The U.S. Department of Education’s transgender directives just released reveal a new desperation by this administration to impose their liberal agenda on their way out the door,” said Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-AL, 4th). "The Administration should not jeopardize the safety of our children in their efforts to force Americans to accept their LGBT political agenda.”

“Threatening to cut off funding to public schools, which are diligently working to educate our children, is nothing short of blackmail. We must continue to push back against this Administration’s almost constant attempt to circumnavigate Congress and the Constitution.”

“To that end, I will be joining several of my Congressional colleagues in signing a letter to the President, expressing great concern over these guidelines and reminding Mr. Obama that he cannot infringe upon the constitutional right of Congress to appropriate funds.”

In Washington, Congressman Aderholt serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies for the powerful House Appropriations Committee; he is also a member of the Committee’s Defense Subcommittee, the Committee’s Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee, and the Helsinki Commission.

U.S. Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX, 36th) on Friday introduced the Student Privacy Protection and Safety Act (H.R. 5294) to ensure local schools, as well as public and private colleges, are not forced to carry out the Obama Administration’s misguided transgender bathroom policies.

“The Obama Administration’s reinterpretation of current law would jeopardize the privacy and modesty of every child in America,” said Rep. Babin. “It is wrong to force upon tens of millions of American elementary, middle and high school students mixed gender bathrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms, but that is exactly what the Administration is doing. The federal government should not be in the business of throwing common sense and decency out the window and forcing local schools to permit a teenage boy who ‘identifies’ as a girl to use changing rooms, locker rooms and bathrooms with five year-old girls.”

H.R. 5294 would prevent the federal government from enforcing the policy by completely invalidating the May 13th directive by the Department of Education and Department of Justice. Furthermore, the bill would prevent the federal government from issuing any further guidance of similar nature unless Congress directs it to do so.

Recently, the House failed to pass an amendment barring federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT employees.

Apparently, there had been a federal complaint against Sumner County, Tennessee schools filed by the ACLU.

“Washington liberals’ campaign to compromise the safety and privacy of our students in the name of hyper-political correctness has now hit our backyard,” said Congresswoman Diane Black (R-TN, 6th) . “These days, a complaint by the ACLU is a sure sign you’ve done something right. From the organization’s work to silence expressions of faith in our schools to their attacks on laudable organizations like Boy Scouts of America, they’ve lost all credibility with Tennesseans and they know it. Nonetheless, if the ACLU wants to pick a fight with our Sumner County educators, then they’ll have to pick a fight with me as well. I sent my children to Sumner County public schools. I know our Director of Schools and the Chairman of the Board of Education. I have the utmost confidence in their ability to offer accommodations for transgender students while maintaining reasonable policies that protect the privacy and security of the student population as a whole and I stand with them in the face of this blatantly political complaint.”

She recently blasted Obama's bathroom agenda saying, “This attempt to bully our local schools into submission to the Obama Administration’s agenda is shameful and a gross abuse of the federal government’s power. It has nothing to do with compassion for minority student populations and everything to do with political opportunism for the next election. We all agree on the rights of students to be treated with dignity and respect, but that right must also exist alongside the rights of students to maintain their privacy and safety in their own schools. As a grandmother of young girls, I believe the Obama Administration is now directly responsible for endangering our students. It is worth noting that this directive does not carry the force of law and I would encourage Tennessee school officials to continue following their consciences. States like Tennessee should be able to make these decisions for themselves without fear of reprisal from a heavy-handed federal government. That is why, later this year when our appropriations bills come to the House floor, I plan to introduce an amendment barring the Department of Education from withholding funds from states that pass commonsense legislation protecting our children from sharing a bathroom with students of the opposite sex.”

“It’s absurd that the Obama Administration is threatening to take legal action against local school districts and imposing their agenda against the wishes of parents and teachers,” said Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) “School districts have a right to make these decisions for themselves. I have never once had a student, parent, or teacher complain about this issue before. With the many serious problems our country faces, including $19 trillion in debt, $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities, millions of migrants flooding into Europe, and our open southern border, it seems they could have found a better use for their time. It is a shame that President Obama is distracting from our country’s many serious problems with this needless Federal bathroom policy – yet another example of executive overreach,” said Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA, 7th).

“Schools should not be punished by the Federal government for failing to implement this misguided, ‘Washington knows best’ policy,” he added.

U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford, and U.S. Reps. Markwayne Mullin, Tom Cole, Frank Lucas, Steve Russell, and Jim Bridenstine have sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Department of Education (ED) demanding that the administration retract the May 13, 2016, guidance on transgender students.

Officials from 11 U.S. states sued the Obama administration on Wednesday to overturn a directive telling schools to let transgender students use bathrooms matching their gender identity, decrying the policy as "a massive social experiment."