Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued an advisory to Texas schools, warning of potential legal action against any school district that adopts policies and procedures that align with the federal Department of Education (DOE) revised Title IX rules that include provisions allowing female-identifying male students access to female-only spaces like lockers and bathrooms.
Mr. Paxton issued the warning in a June 18 advisory, which said that he is prepared to take legal action against any Texas school district that crafts policies such as allowing men into women’s bathrooms or requiring teachers or students to address others using their preferred pronouns rather than pronouns that match their biological sex.
In April, the Biden administration announced a final rule expanding the decades-old Title IX law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools to now include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” The move sparked a flurry of lawsuits from 15 Republican-led states, including Texas.
The Title IX changes—which Mr. Paxton described in his advisory to Texas schools as “radical” and “unlawful”—gave men who identify as women the right to use female restrooms and locker rooms, and to join female-only organizations, like sports teams. The revised rules also define “harassment” as including someone addressing another using pronouns that conform to their biological sex rather than their chosen gender identity.
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