Judge briefly blocks Texas schools’ gender-based hair policy

MAGNOLIA, Texas (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Texas school district’s enforcement of a grooming policy that prohibits boys — and not girls — from having long hair. Chief U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal’s ruling Monday comes days after seven students sued the Magnolia Independent School District alleging gender discrimination. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of six boys and one nonbinary student. Three of the boys and the nonbinary student have been allowed back in class. The judge said she’d determine at a Nov. 10, 2021, hearing what to do about the other three plaintiffs who reluctantly cut their hair at the start of school in August but are growing it back.