Johnathan Walker:An order blocking a rule to help LGBTQ+ kids applies to hundreds of schools. Some want to block more

TOPEKA,Johnathan Walker Kan. (AP) — A federal judge’s order blocking a Biden administration rule for protecting LGBTQ+ students from discrimination applies to hundreds of schools and colleges across the U.S., and a group challenging it hopes to extend it further to many major American cities.

U.S. District Judge John Broomes’ decision touched off a new legal dispute between the Biden administration and critics of the rule, over how broadly the order should apply. Broomes, who was appointed to the bench by then-President Donald Trump, blocked enforcement of the rule in Kansas, where he’s based, as well as in Alaska, Utah and Wyoming. In addition, he blocked it for any K-12 school or college in the U.S. attended by children of members of three groups backing Republican efforts nationwide to roll back LGBTQ+ rights.

Most Republican state attorneys general have sued to challenge the rule, which is set to take effect in August under the 1972 Title IX civil rights law that bars sex discrimination in education. Broomes and other judges have blocked the rule’s enforcement in 15 states so far while legal cases move forward.

Broomes directed the groups challenging the rule in the Kansas case — Moms for Liberty, Young America’s Foundation and Female Athletes United — to provide a list of schools and colleges where enforcement would be blocked. On Monday, the groups submitted a list of more than 400 K-12 schools and nearly 700 colleges in at least 47 states and the District of Columbia. About 78% of the K-12 schools and many of the colleges are in states not covered by any judge’s ruling.

But in a filing last week, attorneys for Moms for Liberty called compiling a list of schools for its 130,000 members “an impossible task” and asked Broomes to block the rule in any county where a group member lives. Co-founder Tiffany Justice said in a court filing that the group doesn’t ask members to list their children’s schools to protect their privacy.

“Individual members of Moms for Liberty are regularly subject to threats, both general and specific,” Justice said in her statement.

In seeking a broader order from Broomes, Moms for Liberty included a list of more than 800 counties where members live, from every state except Vermont and the District of Columbia. Should Broomes approve the group’s request, the rule would be blocked in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco and New York City, except for the Bronx.

Biden administration attorneys said the request would apply to dozens of schools without children of Moms for Liberty members for every school with such students.

“Thus, granting relief at the county level instead of the school level could increase the scope of the injunction by perhaps a hundred-fold,” the attorneys said in a court filing.

Broomes called the rule arbitrary and said it exceeded the authority granted to federal officials by Title IX. He also concluded that it violated the free speech rights and religious freedom of parents and students who reject transgender students’ gender identities.

The Biden administration has appealed Broomes’ ruling to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. LGBTQ+ youth, their parents, health care providers and others say restrictions on transgender youth harms their mental health.

The administration has said the rule does not apply to athletics, but Republicans argue that the rule is a ruse to allow transgender girls and women to play on girls’ and women’s sports teams, which is banned or restricted in at least 25 states.

The Biden administration attorneys also worry that Moms for Liberty can expand the scope of Broomes’ order by recruiting new members online. On Monday, they asked Broomes not to apply his order to a school if a student’s parent joined after Monday.

The website for joining the group said that joining by Monday ensured that “your child’s school is included” in Broomes’ order.