Subject: The Brief: Battle Over Transgender Bathroom Policy Rages On
From: The Texas Tribune <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 11 May 2016 11:08:57 +0000
List-Id: 3d0ce87edeeb6df90043897dbmc list <3d0ce87edeeb6df90043897db.271561.list-id.mcsv.net>

The Texas Tribune
 http://texastribune.us3.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=3d0ce87edeeb6df90043897db&id=f4334e4d7e&e=df70708b10

** The Brief: Battle Over Transgender Bathroom Policy Rages On (http://texastribune.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3d0ce87edeeb6df90043897db&id=9197b9290d&e=df70708b10)
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by Madlin Mekelburg and John Reynolds | May 11, 2016
http://texastribune.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3d0ce87edeeb6df90043897db&id=740fa67c39&e=df70708b10

** The Big Conversation
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Supporters of a newly adopted bathroom policy aimed at accommodating transgender students in Fort Worth ISD accused Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of expressing "fake outrage" in an effort to score political points.

Patrick called for the school district's superintendent Kent Scribner to resign after he approved a district-wide policy allowing transgender students to use school bathrooms that align with his or her preferred gender identity. Scribner said he will not heed Patrick's request.

During a press conference in Fort Worth just before the district's school board meeting, Patrick said Scribner broke state law and overstepped his role as chief of the state's sixth-largest school district, the Tribune's Kiah Collier and Madlin Mekelburg wrote (http://texastribune.us3.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=3d0ce87edeeb6df90043897db&id=5c1e2a2323&e=df70708b10) .

"[Patrick] said Scribner should focus on improving the district's failing schools, rather than 'social engineering'," Collier and Mekelburg wrote (http://texastribune.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3d0ce87edeeb6df90043897db&id=01ec391b3c&e=df70708b10) .

Supporters of the district's policy held a "dueling news conference" before Patrick delivered his comments, expressing frustration over Patrick's "misplaced priorities."

"There is no news here,” said Steve Rudner, chairman of Equality Texas, during the conference. “The only news here is that the lieutenant governor has decided to pick on an already bullied group of kids. It’s shameful and it’s despicable."

The district's school board heard public commentary on the guidelines during their meeting Tuesday, where people called on the board to "repeal the guidelines and start over." The board did not take any action.

Also on Tuesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton attempted to advance Patrick's cause by submitting a letter to Fort Worth ISD Board President Jacinto "Cinto" Ramos detailing his legal concerns with the policy.

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** Quote to Note
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"Be full of faith and so full of joy that this team was chosen to fight a long battle. Think that slavery – it took 25 years to defeat slavery. That is a lot longer than four years."

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