Dive Brief:
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Officials from 11 states Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit against the Obama administration, fighting the recent mandate on transgender bathroom access.
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Leaders in Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona, Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, Utah and Maine have asked a federal judge to prevent the Executive Branch from “Implementing, applying or enforcing the new rules, regulations, and guidance interpretations.”
- Richard Johnson, a professor of public administration at the University of San Francisco and expert on transgender issues within education, told Education Dive despite the highly politicized reactions to the guidance, more schools than not are receptive to and accommodating of transgender students.
Dive Insight:
Officials in states like Texas are not moved by the Obama administration’s threats to revoke federal education funding from states that refuse to abide by the guidance. Saying in The New York Times earlier this month he won’t be “yield to blackmail from the president of the United States,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick added the federal government “can keep [its] 30 pieces of silver.”
But in states like North Carolina, officials say the political grandstanding is putting them in a tough place, given the already-down state education budgets; many of the states on the lawsuit are facing budget standoffs that put the future of higher education in their states on the line.
Johnson believes the higher education community must do a better job of getting into the broader surrounding community to educate citizens about the social research of such policies to help quell backlash. “This is the future and we need to embrace the future, we need to embrace all of the changes that come with the future,” he said via telephone, adding it is the role of academics to “help folks make sense of” not only the changes, but their implications for the country’s population.