In a new legal challenge, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is once again taking the Biden administration to court over federal workplace protections for transgender employees. The lawsuit, lodged on Thursday in federal court against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Justice Department (DOJ), contests the agency’s guidelines on harassment under federal law and seeks a permanent injunction against them.
The EEOC’s guidelines, which lack legal binding, define actions such as intentionally misgendering transgender employees or denying them access to appropriate restrooms as unlawful harassment. Paxton, joined by the conservative Heritage Foundation, argues in the lawsuit that these guidelines are not just incorrect but illegal.
Paxton’s new legal action targets Biden’s federal rules on transgender employee rights
“The Biden-Harris Administration is overstepping by attempting to alter federal law through improper and undemocratic agency actions,” Paxton asserted. “They are unlawfully leveraging the EEOC to impose ‘transgender’ mandates on private businesses and states, and Texas is fighting back.”
Filed in the Northern District of Texas’s Amarillo Division, the complaint will be reviewed by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a former Trump appointee who oversees most related cases. Last month, Kacsmaryk had dismissed Paxton’s earlier effort to block the EEOC’s previous guidance, requiring a new filing.
The EEOC declined to comment on the lawsuit, deferring inquiries to the DOJ, which did not immediately respond. Since President Biden’s inauguration, Paxton has been a vocal critic of progressive LGBTQ protections, filing numerous lawsuits against the administration, many of which are handled by Kacsmaryk.
