Judge Eliminates Workplace Protections For Texas Trans And Nonbinary Employees

A judge in Texas has ruled that the Biden Administration’s workplace protections for LGBTQ+ people – specifically trans and nonbinary employees – were “unlawful,” according to Gay Times.

In March 2021, President Biden issued an executive order that called for the protection of LGBTQ+ individuals within the workplace and education environments. Biden’s executive order also noted that denying LGBTQ+ employees the right to use pronouns, bathrooms, and dress codes that align with their gender identity was considered discrimination within the workplace.

The move was initiated to fall in line with the Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in the Bostock v. Clayton County case. The case prohibited employers from discriminating based on sexual orientation and gender identity under the established Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The order triggered retaliation from a range of conservatives.

Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General, sued the US Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services for trying to introduce “a radical attempt at social change.”

On 1 October, Texas judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled in favor of Paxton, stating that Title VII does not protect against “correlated conduct” like pronouns and bathrooms. “The Guidances and Defendants misread Bostock by melding ‘status’ and ‘conduct’ into one catchall protected class covering all conduct correlating to ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender,'” the Trump-appointed judge wrote.

“The Biden Administration’s attempts to radicalise federal law to track its woke political beliefs are beyond dangerous,” Paxton said in a statement as he praised the decision.

Before being nominated for the bench, Kacsmaryk worked as the deputy general for the conservative anti-LGBTQ+ legal council First Liberty Institute. He also openly opposed same-sex marriage, described being transgender as “delusional,” and called the Equality Act the “inequality act”.

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