A federal judge in Texas eliminated the guidance of a government agency that specified the protections against harassment in the workplace based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the United States District Court for the Northern Texas District determined on Thursday that the United States Employment Employment Opportunities Commission exceeded its legal authority when the agency issued employers guidance against the use deliberately of the incorrect pronouns for an employee, rejecting access to the bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity and accelerating employees of the clothing of gender clothing.
Kacsmaryk said the guide is “inconsistent with the text, history and tradition of title VII and the recent precedent of the Supreme Court.”
Title VII of the Civil Rights Law of 1964 It protects employees and applicants for employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
The EEOC, which enforces anti -discrimination laws in the workplace, had He updated his guide about harassment in the workplace in April last year under President Joe Biden for the first time in 25 years. He followed a Decision of the Supreme Court 2020 that gay, lesbian and transgender people are protected of labor discrimination.
Texas and the Heritage Foundation, the group of conservative experts behind Project 2025In August, the guide challenged, which according to the agency serves as a tool for employers to evaluate compliance with discrimination laws and is not legally binding. Kacsmaryk did not agree, writing that the guide creates “mandatory standards … of which the legal consequences will necessarily flow if an employer does not comply.”
The decision marks the Last blow to protections in the workplace For transgender workers after President Donald Trump on January 20 Executive order Declaring that the government would recognize only two “immutable” sexes: men and women.
Kacsmaryk, a 2017 Trump candidate, invalidated all parts of the EEOC guide that defines “sex” to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity”, along with a complete section that addresses the issue.
“Title VII does not require that employers or courts be blinded to biological differences between men and women,” he wrote in the opinion.
The president of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, praised the decision in a statement sent by email: “The EEOC of Biden tried to force business, and the US people, to deny the basic biological truth. Today, thanks to the great state of Texas and the work of my heritage colleagues, said a federal judge: not so fast.”
He added: “This ruling is more than a legal victory. It is cultural. He says no, he does not have to deliver common sense at the altar of the leftist ideology. You don’t have to pretend that men are women. And you don’t have to lie to keep your job.”
The National Women’s Law Center, which presented an Amicus report in November in support of the harassment guide, launched the decision in a statement sent by email.
“The decision of the District Court is an indignation and blatantly disagree with the precedent of the Supreme Court,” said Liz Theran, senior director of education and justice litigation in the workplace at NWLC. “The EEOC harassment orientation reminds employers and workers for doing a simple thing that should not cost anything to anyone: refrain from degrading others at work based on their identity and who loves. This decision does not change the law, but it will make it difficult for LGBTQIA+ workers to enforce their rights and experience a free workplace.”
The United States Department of Justice and the EEOC declined to comment on the result of the case.
The EEOC in fiscal year 2024 received more than 3,000 positions that allege discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and more than 3,000 in 2023, according to the agency’s website.
________ The women of Associated Press in the workforce and the coverage of the state government receive financial support from fundamental companies. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards To work with philanthropies, a list of followers and coverage areas financed in Ap.org.
