Top state officials in Texas and Arkansas have announced that they will not implement the new policy of the Obama administration allowing transgender individuals to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity in all U.S. public schools.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said they will not follow the order even if Washington withholds federal education funding to public schools in the state for defying the directive.
"He says he's going to withhold funding if schools do not follow the policy. In Texas, he can keep his 30 pieces of silver. We will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States," he said, according to CBS News.
Patrick said he will order school superintendents that they should "not enact this policy," which is opposed by 70 to 80 percent of the schools.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the joint letter from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education on the transgender issue "is offensive, intrusive and totally lacking in common sense."
He accused the federal government of meddling in control of public schools in the state.
"As Governor, I recommend that local school districts disregard the latest attempt at social engineering by the federal government and continue to use common sense to ensure a safe and healthy environment in Arkansas schools," he said, adding that the letter is not legally binding so there is no fear that federal money could be withheld from schools.
In the letter released last Friday, the Education and Justice Departments said based on Title IX's implementing regulations, transgender students must be allowed to access facilities such as restrooms, locker rooms, shower facilities and housing consistent with their gender identity.
On restrooms and locker rooms, the letter said, "A school may provide separate facilities on the basis of sex, but must allow transgender students access to such facilities consistent with their gender identity."
It specifically prohibits schools from requiring transgenders to use facilities that do not correspond to their gender identity or to use individual user-facilities when other students are not required to do so.
"A school may, however, make individual-user options available to all students who voluntarily seek additional privacy," it said.
Texas' Port Neches-Groves Superintendent Dr. Rodney Cavness is defiant, telling 12News that "I got news for President Barack Obama. He ain't my President and he can't tell me what to do."
He said the guidance letter "is going straight to the paper shredder."
"I have 5 daughters myself and I have 2,500 girls in my protection. Their moms and dads expect me to protect them. And that is what I am going to do. Now I don't want them bullied... but there are accommodations that can be made short of this. He (President Obama) is destroying the very fiber of this country. He is not a leader. He is a failure," he said.
