The Obama administration issued the new guidelines after North Carolina passed a law requiring transgender people to use public toilets that correspond with the sex listed on their birth certificate. Superintendent David Thweatt says his school has no transgender students, and parents were anxious about abuse of the ordinance.
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The Obama administration will issue a directive May 13, telling every public school district to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity.
Thweatt said he is concerned about the possibility of losing federal funding, but said the safety of his students is what matters the most.
Other states joining the lawsuit so far include Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Some conservative states have vowed defiance, calling the directive a threat to safety even while being accused of discrimination by supporters of transgender rights.
State officials behind the lawsuit are accusing the Obama administration of over-excerising its power to rewrite federal law, specifically Title IX law that the administration said protects against sexual discrimination in schools that receive federal aid.
The federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in a U.S. District Court states that the guidance in this letter “has no basis in law” and argues that authorities are “flouting the democratic process”.
Hood also said he has concerns on the issues standing in the Texas suit because no federal funding has been withheld from any school.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed the lawsuit Wednesday morning at a book signing hours before Paxton formally announced the challenge.
The states claim that the directive demands “seismic changes” in schools across the USA and forces them to let students choose a restroom that matches “their chosen “gender identity” on any given day”.
The states’ filing in Texas lists the U.S. government and several federal agencies and their chiefs as defendants.
The administration’s school guidance covers how to handle harassment and what terminology to use, but the bathroom and locker-room policy has drawn the most attention, especially as other states set restrictions on bathroom access.
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“No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus”, said Education Secretary John King Jr. Harrold Independent School District (Texas) and Heber-Overgaard Unified School District also participated in the lawsuit.
