AUSTIN (WBAP/KLIF News) – Texas Attorney General Dan Patrick joins two other states in asking the federal government for more information about to handle transgender students.
The attorneys general from Texas, Oklahoma and West Virginia all signed a letter to the Departments of Education and Justice asking for clarification on the President’s directive that schools let transgender students use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity. The letter asks if there’s a circumstance where a school could not comply with the directive, but still comply with federal law on gender equality in education.
Lt. Gov. Patrick said he would give up $5 billion in funding for low income children over the issue. “We will not be blackmailed by the president’s 30 pieces of silver,” he said. “The people of Texas and the Legislature will find a way to find as much of that money as we can if we are forced to.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has rejected issues over gay and transgender rights that the Obama administration has cast in terms of civil rights. Patrick responded to President Obama’s directive at the Texas Republican Party Convention, saying “homosexuality must not be accepted as an acceptable alternative lifestyle.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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