The states joining Texas include Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Utah, Georgia.
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The US Justice Department sued the state of North Carolina last month, asking a federal court to rule that the state’s anti-trans HB2 law violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act. On the other hand, they themselves have been accused of discrimination by supporters of transgender rights.
“President Obama has no business setting locker room and restroom policies for our schools”, said Attorney General Brnovich. According to The Associated Press, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrickhas previously said Texas is willing to forfeit $10 billion in federal education dollars rather than comply.
The lawsuit has been filed in a Texas federal court just weeks after Obama gave the order saying transgender students can use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. “I can assure them that MS families are concerned more about these challenges than about lawsuits over restrooms”, he said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed the lawsuit Wednesday morning at a book signing hours before Paxton formally announced the challenge. “These schools are facing the potential loss of school funding for simply following common sense policies that protect their students”, Texas Attorney General Paxton said.
Thweatt said he is concerned about the possibility of losing federal funding, but said the safety of his students is what matters the most. It says that the guidance issued by the Obama administration has no basis in law and could cause “seismic changes” in the operations of schools all over the nation.
The legal challenge follows a controversial law recently passed by the state of North Carolina mandating that all public employees and students at public universities use restrooms for the gender they were assigned at birth – not the gender they identify with.
Our Office has consistently opposed efforts like this to take away states’ rights and exclude the people’s representatives from making these decisions, or at a minimum being able to engage in a notice and comment period under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Superintendent David Thweatt said his schools have no transgender students to his knowledge but defended the district taking on the federal government.
On Wednesday, officials from 11 states, with Texas as the main plaintiff, sued the Obama administration, with additional states including Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Utah and Georgia, the Arizona Department of Education, the governor of ME, and school districts from Texas and Arizona joining in the lawsuit.
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The law applied to all public facilities in schools. “We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence”.
