CTD, TARA ,TX Parent to Parent, Texas Advocates, AHA! Rev Up, Reach CIL, PACT, Mary Lee residents, E4 and folks from across the state joined ADAPT of Texas to call on Attorney General Paxton to stop his efforts to get Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 declared unconstitutional. Paxton, along with 16 other attorneys general filed a lawsuit that calls for 504 to be declared unconstitutional, a move that would strip rights from low income housing tenants, students with disabilities, health and human services clients, and others. Claiming they are only trying to get people with gender dysphoria from receiving protection under 504, the AGs never the less continue to call for the destruction of all of 504.This full-frontal attack on 504 was continued in a recent hearing for this case.
Recently the 504 rules were changed to include people with gender dysphoria, and to finally cover health and human service programs so that those entities that get federal funding can’t discriminate by having inaccessible facilities and/or programs and services that discriminate The details of these rules are fantastic and you should read them!
504 is the precursor to the ADA and much of the ADA follows 504, BUT 504 has some protections that aren’t covered by the ADA. Also, with Texas’ long record of attacking disability rights you can rest assured if they are able to dismantle 504, ADA and other laws will soon follow.
The crowd of almost 100 people in Austin spoke strongly at a press conference outside the Supreme Court Building and Capitol. In El Paso advocates from Desert ADAPT and others held a simultaneous press conference to underline the statewide concern about this problem. After the Austin press conference part of the group marched over to deliver our posters and signs to the attorney general himself. We were stopped in the lobby and eventually state police were called in, so we left but not before our message don’t mess with 504 had been loudly delivered.
we urge you to contact Attorney General Paxton and tell him to leave 504 alone.