As a law enforcement agency, the Department of Justice must interpret Title VII as written by Congress".
"As a law enforcement agency, the Department of Justice must interpret Title VII as written by Congress," the memo said.
The Obama administration on Friday released significant guidance reinforcing that the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice interpret Title IX to prohibit discrimination against transgender students.
Interpreting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars employment discrimination on the basis of race and sex, the Supreme Court ruled that suits can be brought under a disparate-impact theory without proof of discriminatory intent.
And if a female student claimed that a bathroom or locker room that her school had her share with male students caused her to feel sexually vulnerable and created a hostile environment, the complaint would be difficult to dismiss, particularly since the federal government has interpreted Title IX broadly and said that schools must try to prevent a hostile environment.
But, in 2011, Obama's Office for Civil Rights announced, in a Dear Colleague letter, that it was interpreting Title IX to require schools not only to investigate and adjudicate allegations of sexual violence among students but also to abide by certain detailed policies and procedures.
The Obama administration interpreted Title IX ― the federal law banning sex discrimination in schools ― to include protections for LGBTQ students.
Those guidelines had interpreted Title IX to cover gender identity discrimination, and Grimm scored a major victory in federal court thanks to that interpretation.
Under President Barack Obama, the Education and Justice departments interpreted Title IX, which prevents discrimination on the basis of sex, as also covering transgender individuals. .
In a directive distributed to federal prosecutors, Sessions stated that the Justice Department would roll back 2014 guidance issued under the Obama administration that interpreted Title VII, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin, to protect trans government employees.
For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission interprets Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity if a qualified worker is discriminated against on the basis of an individual's non-alignment with gender norms.
