TX Sues To Block Federal Trans Workplace Protections

The Hill reports:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is suing the Biden administration again over federal workplace protections for transgender employees. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Justice Department (DOJ), argues that agency guidelines clarifying what constitutes harassment under federal law are unlawful and asks the court to permanently block them.

The EEOC guidelines, which are not legally binding, state that denying employees accommodations based on their gender identity — including intentionally misgendering transgender workers or denying them access to restrooms that match their gender identity — is unlawful workplace harassment. “The opposite is true,” Paxton, along with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, wrote in Thursday’s lawsuit.

Read the full article.

As with his previous lawsuits, this one was filed in the Amarillo division of U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas, all but assuring the case will go to far-right Christian nationalist and anti-LGBTQ Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk.

Yesterday Paxton sued to block federal regulations on staffing at nursing homes. Last month Paxton also sued to block federal rules on birth control for teenagers. Both of those cases are before Kacsmaryk.