skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Millions under threat of strong tornadoes and violent winds as storm danger increases Friday; Expanded Clean Slate laws in NC, US could improve public safety; TX farmers and ranchers benefit from federal conservation funds; Head Start supports WA parents, celebrates 60 years.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Omaha elects its first Black mayor, U.S. Supreme Court considers whether lower courts can prevent Trump administration's removal of birthright citizenship, and half of states consider their own citizenship requirements for voter registration.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

New Mexico's acequia irrigation system is a model of democratic governance, buying a house in rural America will get harder under the Trump administration's draft 2026 budget, and physicians and medical clinics serving rural America are becoming a rarity.

A Swarm of Criticism for Texas' Transgender-Restroom Lawsuit

play audio
Play

Friday, May 27, 2016   

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas officials are seeing a firestorm of criticism over their lawsuit against the Obama administration's guidance on how schools should treat transgender students.

Texas, joined by 10 other mostly "red" states, wants to overturn a Justice Department determination that transgender students should be allowed to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity. Dan Quinn, communications director for the Texas Freedom Network, described the lawsuit as nothing more than political theater.

"This is another example of our state's top elected officials playing politics with people's lives," he said. "These are already vulnerable kids who simply want to be able to use the restroom without being harassed and bullied."

In announcing the suit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton dismissed the civil rights issue, calling the regulation an "unconstitutional overreach by the federal government." The U.S. Justice Department issued the guideline after North Carolina passed a law restricting transgender people to the restroom matching the gender on their birth certificate.

Quinn said the U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that someone cannot sue an agency just because they disagree with that agency's guidance, and that an agency's guidance only can be challenged through a contested legal case.

"This action by the administration was a guidance for local school districts on how to make sure they treat all of their students fairly and equally," he said. "So, it's kind of hard to imagine here what legal objection the attorney general actually has to this."

Quinn said Titles VII and IX of the Civil Rights Act prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, adding that federal courts already have ruled that the law includes protections for gay and transgender people.

The text of the lawsuit is online at texasattorneygeneral.gov.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Since its inception in 1965, Head Start has served nearly 40 million children and their families. (Save the Children)

Social Issues

play sound

This Sunday is the 60th anniversary of Head Start, the federally funded preschool program supporting more than 12,000 children, up to age four…


Environment

play sound

By Dawn Attride for Sentient.Broadcast version by Mark Richardson for Arkansas News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaborati…

Environment

play sound

Friday is Endangered Species Day and experts are reminding Rhode Islanders of the plight of the North Atlantic right whale. Right whales' habitat is …


The peninsular bighorn sheep is federally listed as an endangered species. (Chrismr/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Today, on the 20th anniversary of Endangered Species Day, conservation advocates warn polices of President Donald Trump's administration are …

Environment

play sound

New data show Arizona's two largest airports have fared well for on-time departures and arrivals but the same cannot be said about U.S. airlines in …

Eastern hellbenders reproduce from late August to October, with females laying 150-450 eggs that males guard and oxygenate until they hatch, in 45 to 75 days. (Ondreicka/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

It is Endangered Species Day, a reminder some plants and wildlife need protection, like Pennsylvania's eastern hellbender. It is the state's …

Social Issues

play sound

Legal groups are weighing an appeal after a court ruling this week that left voters in several states, including North Dakota, at a disadvantage in …

Environment

play sound

By Dawn Attride for Sentient.Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Greater Dakota News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaborati…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021