A federal court in Texas vacated portions of EEOC anti-harassment guidance that include LGBTQ+ workplace protections, siding with the state of Texas and a conservative policy think tank that the agency overstepped its authority.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidance, issued in April 2024, is inconsistent with Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and went beyond US Supreme Court precedent, Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled late Thursday.
Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, has previously blocked EEOC guidance involving LGBTQ+ employees. In 2022, he struck down guidelines addressing workplace bathroom, dress code, and locker room rules.
The ruling is a further blow to the Biden-era guidance that EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas, named by President Donald Trump, signaled she would rescind or revoke when she has a voting majority at the commission. She cited the need to be in line with Trump’s executive order directing the government to recognize only two sexes.
Kacsmaryk’s ruling granting summary judgment to Texas and the Heritage Foundation also adds fuel to other conservative-leaning challenges to the commission’s protections around gender identity.
Their lawsuit targeted provisions in the guidance that stated an employer using a pronoun inconsistent with a worker’s known gender identity or denying access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility consistent with the individual’s gender identity is sex-based discrimination under Title VII.
The guidance “contravenes Title VII’s plain text by expanding the scope of ‘sex’ beyond the biological binary: male and female,” and uses a “misreading” of the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision, Kacsmaryk said.
The Supreme Court found Title VII bars discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.
“But Bostock expressly refused to redefine ‘sex’ under Title VII,” the judge wrote.
“By redefining the core definition of ‘sex,’ the enforcement guidance fundamentally reshapes the scope of Title VII,” he added.
Kacsmaryk also asserted in the decision that the EEOC’s guidance comprises final agency action that can be challenged and vacated, since it produces legal consequences and determines certain rights and obligations of covered employers.
Kacsmaryk has been a significant force in blocking other Biden-era policies, on issues ranging from immigration to reproductive rights.
The EEOC has already pulled back on transgender bias cases filed under the Biden administration.. Lucas’s opposition to the guidance, which she voted against as a commissioner, indicates the government is unlikely to appeal the ruling.
In addition to Texas, a coalition of 18 Republican attorneys general separately sued to block the guidance over similar arguments. That case is pending before a federal court in Tennessee.
Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation, said the ruling is “more than a legal victory,” it’s also a “cultural one.”
“Heritage is doing exactly what the conservative movement needs to do: stop apologizing, start suing, and take back institutions,” Roberts said in a statement.
An attorney for Texas did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. The Justice Department, which represents the commission in the litigation, declined to comment.
The Texas Office of the Attorney General represents the state. Boyden Gray PLLC is representing The Heritage Foundation.
The case is Texas v. EEOC, N.D. Tex., No. 2:24-cv-00173, 5/15/25.
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