Attorney General Jim Hood, the only Democrat in statewide office in MS, said he won’t represent Bryant.
Advertisement
Gov. Phil Bryant said Thursday that he is planning for MS to join 11 states in suing the Obama administration for telling US public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
Hood joined a lawsuit past year to try to stop the Justice Department “from interfering with the way in which local schools operate their restrooms”, he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which is leading the fight on behalf of multiple transgender students in various states, blasted the decision by state lawmakers to attempt to undermine the federal government by passing laws or resolutions that target transgender people for discrimination.
Mississippi’s attorney general, Democrat Jim Hood, declined to participate in the lawsuit, according to Clay Chandler, a spokesman for the governor.
The states who filed are Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. It also suggests that Oklahoma schools may choose to opt out of the guidance issued by the Obama administration on how schools should deal with transgender-related issues.
Specifically, the lawsuit attacks guidance from the U.S. Department of Education which explains that schools are obligated under federal law to protect transgender students from discrimination challenges guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) with regards to transgender employees, and seeks to undermine the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s determination that transgender employees are covered by federal employment nondiscrimination law.
Advertisement
“This action by the administration was a guidance for local school districts on how to make sure they treat all of their students fairly and equally”, he said. He said Thursday that the federal guidance was a response to educators wanting to provide a safe environment for transgender students amid fears of bullying and violence.
