Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

Once again, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has saddled up his valiant steed and is leading his troops into battle against the forces of evil in his never-ending battle against the scourge that is EverydayNormalTransgenderPeopleMindingTheir OwnBusiness.

Today (Thursday, Sept. 26), Paxton’s office issued a press release announcing that the Texas AG — who was indicted by the federal government on securities fraud charges and remains under investigation by the FBI for abuse of power — is leading “a multistate suit” against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and officials in President Joe Biden’s administration in an effort to block a new rule that, the press release claims, “unlawfully attempts to contort federal disability law to list ‘gender dysphoria’ as a disability.”

The rule in question was adopted in May of this year and defines gender dysphoria as a disability under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Paxton, however, claims that “when Congress passed these laws, it specifically stip[ulated that ‘gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments or other sexual behavior disorders’ are not considered disabilities.”

(Ppsssssttttt! Kenny! Being transgender is no more a “sexual behavior disorder” than is being a straight, white, cisgender man. In fact, being transgender is not a “sexual behavior” at all.)

Paxton said in a written statement, “The Biden administration is once again abusing executive action to sidestep federal law and force unscientific, unfounded gender ideology onto the public. Texas is suing because HHS has no authority to unilaterally rewrite statutory definitions and classify ‘gender dysphoria’ as a disability.”

No more authority to do so than, say, a state attorney general has to secretly order the Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Division and the Texas Health and Human Services Department to defy legally issued court orders and refuse to correct an individual’s state health records and state-issued ID, eh Kenny?

— Tammye Nash