

In a temporary injunction signed Sunday, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor ruled that the federal education law known as Title IX "is not ambiguous" about sex being defined as "the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined at their birth."

The judge said his order, which applies nationwide, was not about the policy issues of transgender rights but his conclusion that federal officials simply did not follow rules that required an opportunity for comment before such directives are issued.

"This case presents the difficult issue of balancing the protection of students' rights and that of personal privacy ... while ensuring that no student is unnecessarily marginalized while attending school," he wrote.

The ruling was the second recent setback for transgender advocates. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Virginia school board can block for now a transgender male from using the boys' restroom while justices decide whether to fully intervene.

Texas and 12 other states, including Georgia, challenged the White House directive as unconstitutional.

The judge also sided with Republican state leaders who argued that schools should have been allowed to weigh in before the White House directive was announced in May.





"I think today is going to be a hard day for transgender students," Castillo said. "The decision is certainly emotional and certainly an attack on transgender students' dignity."


The Obama administration had told the court that recipients of federal education dollars were "clearly on notice" that anti-discrimination polices must be followed. Texas alone gets roughly $10 billion in federal education funds.