WASHINGTON — Twenty-six GOP-led states are suing the Biden administration over changes to Title IX aimed at doing so Protect LGBTQ+ students from discrimination at school.
Less than a month after the U.S. Department of Education released its final rule on the matter protect against discrimination “Based on gender stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics,” a wave of Republican attorneys general fought to challenge the measure.
The revised rule, which will take effect Aug. 1, requires schools to “take prompt and effective action when notified of conduct that may reasonably constitute sex discrimination in their educational programs or activities.”
The lawsuits come from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas , Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
All attorneys general in the 26 states challenging the final rule are part of the Republicans Attorneys General Association.
Various advocacy groups and school boards have also weighed in on the states’ legal action. The lawsuits contain similar language and reasoning in vehemently opposing the final rule. They say the recent rules raise First Amendment concerns and allege the rule violates the law Administrative Procedure Act.
LGBTQ+ advocates say the revised rule provides needed protections for students and is consistent with current law.
“Our children’s experiences at school should be about learning, making friends and developing as young people. LGBTQ+ students deserve equal opportunities,” said Sarah Warbelow, vice president of legal affairs at the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, in an emailed statement. “With these lawsuits, these attorneys general are attempting to deprive LGBTQ+ students of their rights, which demonstrates a complete disregard for the humanity of LGBTQ+ students.”
GOP states unite against recent regulations
In the most recent attempt Alaska, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming sued them Biden administration On Tuesday, he accused the Education Department of trying to “politicize our nation’s education system to suit the radical ideological views of the Biden administration and its allies.”
The lawsuit alleges that under the updated regulations, teachers, coaches and administrators would be required to “recognize, affirm and validate students’ ‘gender identities,’ regardless of speakers’ own religious beliefs on the subject, in violation of the First Amendment.” .”
In another lawsuit, a group of southern states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina – sued the administration Federal Court of Justice in Alabama about the recent regulations.
Alabama Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall said Since taking office, President Joe Biden has “brazenly sought to use federal resources to impose a radical gender ideology on states that reject them at the ballot box.”
“Now our school children are the target. The danger is that if Alabama’s public schools and universities do not comply, the federal government will withdraw funding from us,” Marshall said in a news release.
The lawsuit was also praised by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said, “Biden is abusing his constitutional authority to advance an ideological agenda that harms women and girls and contradicts the truth.” He added that the Sunshine State will “not comply” and instead “fight against Biden’s harmful agenda.”
Individual states are suing the government
Meanwhile, some states have decided to file individual lawsuits against the government.
In Texas, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration delayed last month Federal Court of Justice in Amarillo. Paxton filed an amended complaint with two recent ones earlier this week Plaintiff added.
In one (n Press release from April 29thPaxton said the Lone Star State “will not allow Joe Biden to rewrite Title IX at his whim and destroy legal protections for women to advance his radical obsession with gender ideology.”
The Republican Attorney General of Oklahoma Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration earlier this month in federal court in Oklahoma. The Ministry of Education of the country also filed a separate lawsuit against the Biden administration.
A hodgepodge of states
At the end of April, Republican attorneys general in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia filed a lawsuit against him Biden administration in federal court in Kentucky.
The states argued that the U.S. Department of Education “used regulatory authority to transform an equal opportunity law for both sexes into a far more comprehensive, self-created system.”
Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana also sued the Biden administration in delayed April, repeating language found in the other related lawsuits. Seventeen locals School authorities in Louisiana also joined the states.
Earlier this month, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota also brought a collective with them legal challenge to the final rule.
A Department of Education spokesperson said the department does not comment on pending litigation, but noted that “all state-funded schools are required to comply with these final regulations as a condition of receiving federal funding.” They added that the department is relying on this “Looks forward to working with school communities across the country to ensure that the Title IX guarantee of nondiscrimination in school is the experience of every student.”
The department has yet to draft a separate rule setting recent criteria for transgender athletes. So far, 24 states have passed laws banning transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity, the study said Movement promotion project.
