TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) — A federal judge’s order blocking a Biden administration rule protecting LGBTQ+ students from discrimination applies to hundreds of schools and colleges across the U.S., and a group challenging it hopes to expand the rule to many major American cities.
The decision by U.S. District Judge John Broomes sparked a modern legal battle between the Biden administration and critics of the rule over how broadly the order should apply. Broomes, who was appointed judge by then-President Donald Trump, blocked enforcement of the rule in Kansas, where he resides, as well as in Alaska, Utah and Wyoming. In addition, he blocked it for all K-12 schools and colleges in the U.S. attended by children of members of three groups that support Republican efforts to restrict LGBTQ+ rights across the country.
Most Republican attorneys general have filed suit to challenge the rule, which is set to take effect in August, under Title IX, the 1972 civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. Broomes and other judges have so far blocked enforcement of the rule in 15 states while the litigation moves forward.
Broomes asked the groups challenging the rule in the Kansas case – Moms for Liberty, Young America’s Foundation and Female Athletes United – to submit a list of schools and colleges where enforcement would be blocked. On Monday, the groups submitted a list of more than 400 K-12 schools and nearly 700 colleges in at least 47 states and the District of Columbia. About 78% of the K-12 schools and many of the colleges are in states not covered by any of the rulings.
But in a brief last week, Moms for Liberty lawyers called compiling a list of schools for its 130,000 members an “impossible task” and asked Broomes to block the rule in any county where a member of the group lives. Co-founder Tiffany Justice said in a court brief that the group does not ask its members to list their children’s schools to protect their privacy.
“Individual members of Moms for Liberty are regularly subjected to general and specific threats,” Justice said in her statement.
To get a more comprehensive order from Broomes, Moms for Liberty has included a list of more than 800 counties where members live, from every state except Vermont and the District of Columbia. If Broomes grants the group’s request, the order would be blocked in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco and New York City (except the Bronx).
Biden administration lawyers said the request would apply to dozens of schools without children of Moms for Liberty members, and to any school with such students.
“Therefore, granting relief at the county level rather than the school level could increase the scope of the injunction by a factor of 100,” the attorneys said in a court document.
Broomes called the rule arbitrary and said it exceeded the authority granted to federal officials under Title IX. He also concluded that it violated the free speech and religious freedoms of parents and students who reject the gender identity of transgender students.
The Biden administration has appealed Broomes’ ruling to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. LGBTQ+ youth, their parents, health care providers and others say restrictions on transgender youth are damaging their mental health.
The administration has said the rule does not apply to sports, but Republicans argue it is a pretext to allow transgender girls and women to play on girls’ and women’s sports teams, something that is banned or restricted in at least 25 states.
Biden administration lawyers also fear that Moms for Liberty could expand the scope of Broomes’ order by recruiting modern members online. On Monday, they urged Broomes not to apply his order to a school if a student’s parent joined after Monday.
The group’s joining website said joining by Monday would ensure that “your child’s school is included in Broomes’ order.”
