Some conservative states have vowed defiance, calling the guidance a threat to safety while being accused of discrimination by supporters of transgender rights. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said “there is no room in our schools for discrimination”.
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed the lawsuit at a book signing hours before the state’s Republican attorney general was scheduled to formally announce the challenge at a Wednesday news conference.
Other defendants include the U.S. Department of Justice, Department of Education, Department of Labor and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as well as officials within these departments.
The federal government says students should be able to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.
“It’s not moot because it was thrusted upon us by the federal government”, Thweatt said, “or we were going to risk losing our federal funding”. The states-Texas, Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Utah, and Georgia-as well as the Arizona Department of Education and the governor of ME assert 10 claims against the guidance provided by the administration earlier this month, ranging from procedural claims to constitutional arguments.
President Obama has spent much of his second term working on pushing pro-LGBT legislation and most recently his administration has turned its attention to transgender rights in regard to the infamous bathroom access laws.
The suit also contends that federal guidelines concerning use of facilities by transgender individuals violate the Administrative Procedure Act, because they were adopted without standard notice and an opportunity to comment and exceed the rulemaking authority granted to the executive branch by lawmakers, among other reasons.
The lawsuit also alleged the administration for hindering the private space for every student and their basic rights in the school area.
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“The fact that the federal government has yet again decided that it knows what is best for every one of our local communities is insulting and, quite frankly, intolerable”, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas said.
