States sue Obama administration over rules redefining gender

Eleven states filed suit against the Obama administration today over its demand that public schools allow students to use the restroom and locker room facilities of their choice, rather than their biological gender.

Earlier this month, the federal departments of justice and education issued the directive, saying Title IX of the Civil Rights Act applies to gender identity as well as sex. Attorneys general in Oklahoma, Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maine, Arizona, Louisiana, Utah, and Georgia disagree.

State officials say the Obama administration has “conspired to turn workplace and educational settings across the country into laboratories for a massive social experiment, flouting the democratic process, and running roughshod over commonsense policies protecting children and basic privacy rights,” according to the lawsuit.

Federal officials have warned states that don’t comply with the new directive will face the loss of federal education funding. But after making the threat first against North Carolina, officials backtracked a bit, saying they would wait for the legal process to play out first.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department ordered North Carolina to revoke a newly adopted state law that protects private businesses from being forced by local laws to open restrooms and locker rooms to customers based on gender identity and not biological sex. North Carolina sued, and the Obama administration counter-sued.

Less than a week later, the administration issued its national directive on the new interpretation for Title IX, which was adopted primarily to ensure women’s college sports had an equal footing with mens’ teams.

Two school districts joined today’s lawsuit. The superintendent of Harrold Independent School District in North Texas, said it didn’t matter that none of his 100 students identified as transgender, to his knowledge.

“It’s not moot because it was thrusted upon us by the federal government, or we were going to risk losing our federal funding,” David Thweatt said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.