CON- SERVATIVES VOW: WE ‘WILL NOT YIELD’ TO OBAMA ‘BLACKMAIL’

Furor over gender warning to schools.

The Obama administration’s directive Friday that every public school provide transgender access — or face the loss of federal funds — drew swift and strong condemnation from conservatives, with one public official blasting it as presidential “blackmail.”

The administration’s directive — citing Title IX in telling schools to give transgender students access to all activities and facilities consistent with their gender identity — effectively touched off a national debate that could well extend into the next president’s term and reverberate through the courts.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, speaking to reporters Friday, said his state “will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States.”

“This goes against the values of so many people,” he added. “This has everything to do with keeping the federal government out of local issues.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest later defended the letter as “guidance” that was requested by schools across the country and said it “does not add any additional requirements under the law.”

He also pushed back on Patrick’s comments that the letter was “blackmail.”

“This does underscore the risk of electing a right-wing radio host to statewide office,” Earnest said, referring to Patrick’s talk radio show.

Patrick — highlighting the impact of a growing debate that has centered on who should or should not use gender-specific bathrooms, but could extend well beyond that — called this the “biggest issue facing families and schools in America since prayer was taken out of public schools.” The guidance could open a Pandora’s box of related issues, from whether colleges would be forced to consider gender identity in student housing assignments to how administrators handle preferences for sports teams and locker rooms, and more.

While the letter does not have the force of law, it does warn that schools that do not abide by the administration’s interpretation of civil rights under the Title IX law may face lawsuits or loss of federal aid.

Patrick scoffed at the threat, saying the feds can keep their “30 pieces of silver.”

But Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, says the federal government needs to butt out of state matters.

“What the president needs to do is focus on his job and his job is not to intervene in state and local affairs under our constitutional scheme so frankly I think his involvement in this is unwelcomed,” Cornyn said. “This ought to be a choice made by local officials at the local level held accountable by their own voters.”

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, in his lawsuit, accused the administration of a “baseless and blatant overreach” in trying to get the policy scrapped.

“This is an attempt to unilaterally rewrite long-established federal civil rights laws in a manner that is wholly inconsistent with the intent of Congress and disregards decades of statutory interpretation by the Courts,” the state’s suit, filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of North Carolina, said.

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