First, the Justice Department bullied North Carolina into acknowledging transgender bathroom rights – Attorney General Loretta Lynch even filed a civil rights lawsuit against the state. Then, on Friday morning, the Education Department sent letters to every school district in the country demanding more of the same. Students who identify as transgender, the White House argued, should be allowed to walk into whichever restroom they choose, regardless of their birth certificate. Well, Texas has something to say about the Obama administration’s dangerous directive.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a longtime critic of the Obama White House, was one of the first to tell the liberal administration what it can do with their agenda.
“President Obama, in the dark of the night – without consulting Congress, without consulting educators, without consulting parents – decides to issue an executive order, like this superintendent, forcing transgender policies on schools and on parents who clearly don’t want it,” Patrick told NBC 5.
He came to only one conclusion.
“This will be the beginning of the end of the public school system as we know it.”
His sentiments were supported by some Texas school officials. Rodney Canvass, the superintendent of Port Neches-Groves, said the letter from the president is going “straight to the paper shredder.”
Canvass, who is not just a school official but a parent, is one of many adults who worry about students’ safety now that boys are permitted to follow girls into the bathroom.
The anxiety crosses state lines. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) released a statement Friday echoing Texas’ apprehension, urging Tennessee schools to resist the White House’s new ordinance. She also pledged to introduce legislation that would prevent the Education Department from withholding funds from states that don’t go along with the administration’s flawed social agenda.
"It is worth noting that this directive does not carry the force of law and I would encourage Tennessee school officials to continue following their consciences,” said Black. “States like Tennessee should be able to make these decisions for themselves without fear of reprisal from a heavy-handed federal government. That is why, later this year when our appropriations bills come to the House floor, I plan to introduce an amendment barring the Department of Education from withholding funds from states that pass commonsense legislation protecting our children from sharing a bathroom with students of the opposite sex.”
How far will the Obama administration go to push its liberal agenda during the last 251 days in office?
Targeting schools? Maybe they should pick on someone their own size.