HOUSTON — Is there a lawsuit that seeks to eliminate a key protection for people with disabilities?
Social media posts have raised the alarm that a part of U.S. law code Section 504 could be at risk of being eliminated because of a federal lawsuit. So is there a lawsuit seeking to eliminate Section 504?
Our sources
We checked with our sources, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a federal lawsuit that includes Texas and more than a dozen other states.
What we found
First, according to the HHS, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects qualified individuals from discrimination based on their disability. This protection is required for any organization that receives financial assistance from the federal government, impacting places like schools, hospitals, and more.
We then looked for and found the lawsuit Texas v. Becerra. That lawsuit, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in September 2024 against the Biden administration, seeks to throw out the inclusion of gender dysphoria in Section 504 protections. Paxton and others argue the rule is an overreach by the federal government and raises concerns of accommodating the protection…