Five states led by Republicans have filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for its new regulations protecting transgender students under Title IX, a federal civil rights law that forbids sex-based discrimination in schools receiving federal funding.
A few Republican state officials have stated outright that they will not implement the new regulations, but they have refrained from bringing legal action.
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on Monday in an attempt to halt the rules. Among other things, the regulations will forbid schools from preventing transgender instructors and students from using school facilities and pronouns that correspond with their gender identification.
“Texas will not allow Joe Biden to rewrite Title IX at whim, destroying legal protections for women in furtherance of his radical obsession with gender ideology,” Paxton stated. “This attempt to subvert federal law is plainly illegal, undemocratic, and divorced from reality. Texas will always take the lead to oppose Biden’s extremist, destructive policies that put women at risk.”
Republican attorneys general from Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho filed a second complaint on Monday, claiming that the regulation goes beyond the jurisdiction of the Education Department since it includes gender identity in the definition of sex.
“This is all for a political agenda, ignoring significant safety concerns for young women students in pre-schools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities across Louisiana and the entire country,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill stated.
Leading authorities in Florida and Oklahoma declared their intention to reject the regulations.
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis declared on social media that “Florida rejects Joe Biden’s attempt to rewrite Title IX. We will not comply and we will fight back.”
Oklahoma is “pursuing all actions to oppose this illegal and unconstitutional move by the Biden administration,” stated Ryan Walters, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, during a news conference on Thursday.
“We have already instructed our districts to not comply with this illegal rule change from President Biden,” Walters stated. “We will not allow boys in girls’ restrooms. We will not let boys in girls’ sports.”
Laws targeting transgender pupils have been approved in an increasing number of states. Ten states have outlawed transgender restroom use by staff members and students, and half of the states have passed legislation prohibiting transgender students from participating in school sports on teams that reflect their gender identity.
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The Education Department’s 2021 guideline, which instructed schools to interpret the federal statute to shield LGBTQ students from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, is codified in the new Title IX regulations.
The regulation was a reversal of an Obama-era directive from the Trump administration, which had directed schools to permit transgender kids to use facilities that corresponded with their gender identification.
Twenty states led by Republicans filed a lawsuit in September 2021, and in July 2022, a federal judge temporarily halted the Education Department’s ability to implement the guidelines against those states.
Paxton, Walters, and other Republican officials brought up the topic of trans youth playing school sports, but it is not expressly addressed in the new guidelines.
The Education Department proposed a rule in April 2023 that would amend Title IX to prohibit outright prohibitions on trans students playing on teams that reflect their gender identities.
However, the measure would allow for certain limitations in more competitive sports, like high school and college. The rule was supposed to be released by the agency in March, but there have been several delays.
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