Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and other state attorneys general this week told U.S. President Joe Biden they formally oppose new federal guidelines they say will force radical changes on employers and schools nationwide.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Education issued these guidelines. The group of attorneys general responded to the federal agencies’ claim that using biologically accurate pronouns could violate the law.
“With respect to pronouns, the EEOC’s guidance comes across as an effort to leverage the authority of the federal government to chill protected speech disfavored by your administration,” the attorneys general wrote.
The attorneys general also said this concerns millions of students and parents who use private facilities for bathing and changing at school.
Carr, in a press release, described these guidelines as politically-driven and unlawful.
In the letter, the attorneys general object to the federal agencies’ disregard for procedural safeguards and democratic accountability in their interpretation and application of Bostock v. Clayton County. In that particular case, according to Ballotpedia, members of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an employer who fires an employee merely on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender status violates federal law.
The attorneys general said that instead of involving states, localities, and stakeholders, the EEOC and the Department of Education chose to disregard the rule of law and obstruct public notice and participation in the regulatory process. They said Americans are not passive recipients of the law, but rather active participants in the process of its creation and revision, according to a press release.
“On June 15, without approval from other commissioners or the public, the EEOC Chairwoman issued technical guidance dictating that employers cannot protect the privacy of their employees and their ability to utilize sex-specific bathrooms or locker rooms. The guidance relies on Bostock, even though the Supreme Court’s narrow decision on employment discrimination expressly declines to address ‘sex-segregated bathrooms, locker room, and dress codes,’” the press release said.
“Similarly, reaching well beyond Bostock, the Department of Education announced on June 16 that it will interpret Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or education program that receives federal money, in a way that prevents schools from preserving the privacy of middle school and high school students by ensuring they can use sex-specific showers, locker rooms, and restrooms.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
