AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton is continuing his multistate lawsuit to stop an illegal rule put forward by the Biden Administration that would redefine “gender dysphoria” as a disability and require all recipients of federal funding to allow bathroom usage, pronoun usage, and dress codes to be based on “gender identity” rather than biological sex.
The Biden Administration’s rule would threaten federal funding for disabled Texans and take away healthcare options for those covered by Medicaid if Texas didn’t comply with its woke agenda.
If the rule is allowed to survive, the federal government could use the Rehabilitation Act to take away Texas’s funding for disability programs, Medicaid, or public-school funding just because Texas doesn’t allow men in women’s restrooms. That would be an unconstitutional use of the Rehabilitation Act. No funding for existing disability programs or any person’s rights covered under existing plans under the Rehabilitation Act will be reduced by the lawsuit—instead, federal threats to loss of funding for disability programs would be stopped.
“This Biden-era rule, if allowed to move forward, would put those who are served by Medicaid, disability programs, and children in Texas schools at significant risk,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The lawsuit is currently paused while the Trump Administration reconsiders the rule. The next step is ensuring that the rule is permanently stopped, that biological boys are not allowed in girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms, and that the Rehabilitation Act cannot be unconstitutionally misused to take funding away for vital services, including disability programs. Despite a misinformation campaign, Texans should know that from the very beginning, this lawsuit has not sought to take away the protections for anyone currently covered under the Rehabilitation Act, but to protect them from federal attempts to strip their funding due to any refusal by Texas to abide by a ‘gender-identity’ mandate.”
