Last week a Texas federal judge ruled federal officials are temporarily barred from enforcing students’ rights with regard to school restroom and locker room use under the federal Title IX law. The next day, the U.S. Justice Department filed a notice of appeal in the case.
On Tuesday, a federal court in Illinois joined many others in ruling that the federal Title IX sex discrimination law protects transgender students, and said that respecting transgender students when it comes to restrooms doesn’t infringe other students’ rights. The court rejected a request by an anonymous group of students and parents that it immediately halt a Chicago-area school district’s policy of permitting students to use locker rooms and restrooms that match their gender identity.
Last week the French National Assembly passed legislation removing the surgical requirement for people who want to change their gender on official documents. This legislative change reflects a growing understanding among lawmakers that every person’s gender transition is different and gender marker changes should not require private medical information.
Earlier this month, NCTE applauded the filing of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of New York’s extremely vague “loitering for the purposes of prostitution” law. This week, NCTE was also pleased to join other transgender, LGBT, women’s, and people of color organizations in supporting another lawsuit directly challenging California’s laws criminalizing sex work on the grounds that it unconstitutionally interferes with personal and private decisions about sex.
For some time now, NCTE has been asking the federal government to update its policies for updating gender on US passports, green cards, Social Security records, and other key documents. Not long ago it was impossible for most transgender people to obtain documents that matched their identity and daily life because of policies that required proof of surgical procedures. When those policies were improved a few years back, it made a big difference for many trans people, but not everyone.
