Texas judge strikes down protections for trans people in the workplace
Trans rights in the US are under continuous attack. (Ana Fernandez/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Trans rights in the US are under continuous attack. (Ana Fernandez/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A federal judge in Texas ruled that Title VII no longer protects LGBTQ+ people from discrimination at work.
US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas ruled on Thursday (15 May) that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)’s enforcement guidance defining “sex” under Title VII and what constitutes sex-based harassment contradicts the law.
The EEOC stated in the guidance that Title VII’s ban on workplace discrimination based on “sex” includes sexual orientation and gender identity. It added that refusing to use an employee’s preferred pronouns, or refusing to allow them to wear clothes or use the bathroom in their affirmed gender, qualifies as sex-based harassment.
However, Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by president Donald Trump, found: “Title VII does not require employers or courts to blind themselves to the biological differences between men and women.”
He added that the guidance’s definition of sex “contravenes Title VII’s plain text by expanding the scope of ‘sex’ beyond the biological binary: male and female”.
The judge noted the Texas Department of Agriculture’s current policy for employees, which states that employees must “comply with this dress code in a manner consistent with their biological gender,” stating that “men may wear pants” and “women may wear dresses, skirts, or pants”.
The ruling also supported the department’s policy, which bans trans employees from using bathrooms matching their affirmed gender.
“If a male employee who identifies as female is required to use male facilities, he is not exposed to ‘disadvantageous terms’ unlike other males,” Kacsmaryk wrote. “Instead, he must use male facilities like all other males.”
Kacsmaryk concluded that Title VII prevents “firing someone simply for being homosexual or transgender”, but does not protect gay or trans people from “harassment”.
“In sum, Title VII does not bar workplace employment policies that protect the inherent differences between men and women,” Kacsmaryk concluded in the ruling.
Judge Kacsmaryk further ordered the removal of all references to sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under Title VII from the EEOC guidance. He declared
His ruling declares that “all language defining ‘sex’ in Title VII, including ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’” must be stripped from federal employment policies. The ruling nullifies Section II(A)(5)(c) of the 2024 EEOC guidance, which states: “Sex-based discrimination under Title VII includes employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The ruling followed a lawsuit followed by the state of Texas and the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank which was behind Project 2025, which challenged the guidance as employers.
The EEOC are yet to make a public statement on the ruling. The Heritage Foundation and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have delivered respective statements praising the ruling.
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