Texas AG Ken Paxton
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — that shining beacon of integrity and knowledge of the law who last year told Texas county clerks they did not have to abide by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality and who last month was sued for securities fraud in civil court by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (he is already facing state criminal fraud charges — today issued a statement in support of North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory.
Paxton released his statement after McCrory announced he is suing the U.S. Department of Justice so he can keep his discriminatory bathroom bill. The DoJ had given McCrory until the close of business today to explain his plan for flushing the bathroom bill or risk losing billions in federal funding for his state.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch is expected to hold a press conference any minute now to announce what enforcement action the federal government will take against North Carolina.
Here’s what AG Paxton had to say:
“The people of the United States, through their representatives in Congress, enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ensure, in part, that men and women are treated equally. Congress has not changed this law to mean that individuals may choose whether they want to be male or female for the purpose of public accommodations. One’s sex is a biological fact, not a state of mind, and this threat to North Carolina is the latest in a long series of efforts by an unaccountable federal executive branch. My office stands with Governor McCrory and the people of North Carolina regarding this unconstitutional form of federal overreach.”
May we suggest that AG Paxton crawl into the 21st century and come to terms with the fact that GENDER is not binary and neither is it necessarily defined by biological genitalia.
