Twenty attorneys general have filed a lawsuit in the United States Eastern District Court of Tennessee on Monday against President Joe Biden's Administration for its pro-LGBT directives that broaden protections on discrimination against sex on the context of gender identity.
CBN News reported that Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III spearheaded the filing of the lawsuit which opposes the "faulty view of U.S. Supreme Court case law" that the Equal Employment Opportunity and Department of Education used in legally interpreting Title VII and Title IX.
Tennessee is joined by the states of Alabama, Arizona, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, and South Dakota in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit is meant to defend states "from federal regulatory overreach and the unlawful interpretation of antidiscrimination laws." In the lawsuit, the attorney generals contest that the said agencies are "changing the law" even though it is beyond them in "authority."
Slatery pointed out in a statement that the agencies also "misconstrued" the application of Title IX and Title VII that imposes "threats" on uncooperating institutions to their new directives.
"This case is about two federal agencies changing law, which is Congress' exclusive prerogative. The agencies simply do not have that authority. But that has not stopped them from trying. Even their attempts, as unlawful as they are, did not follow the Administrative Procedures Act. States over and over again have challenged federal agencies on this issue and been successful," Slatery explained.
"These agencies also have misconstrued the Supreme Court's Bostock decision by claiming its prohibition of discrimination applies to locker rooms, showers, and bathrooms under Title IX and Title VII and biological men who identify as women competing in women's sports, when the Supreme Court specifically said it was not deciding those issues in Bostock. All of this, together with the threat of withholding educational funding in the midst of a pandemic, warrants this lawsuit," he added.
As per CBN News, Title VII gives protection from employment discrimination on the basis of sex which was ruled in 1964 by the Supreme Court to pertain to "male" or "female," but has been interpreted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to also mean "gender identity or sexual orientation." The EEOC released "resources" last June that serve as guidance on what constitutes as discrimination against LGBTs in the workplace.
Similarly, the Title IX provision passed in 1972 to protect against discrimination in education on the basis of sex has been construed by the Department of Education to mean a student's gender identity or sexual orientation in its new policy directive.
Slatery highlighted that the released guidance are "invalid and unlawful" and requests the court to prevent its enforcement through the lawsuit since it generalized the application of the Supreme Court decision in "Bostock v. Clayton County" to allegedly address "controversial and localized issues."
"The guidance purports to resolve highly controversial and localized issues such as whether schools must allow biological males to compete on girls' sports teams, whether employers and schools may maintain sex-separated showers and locker rooms, and whether individuals may be compelled to use another person's preferred pronouns," the statement released by Slaters' office said.
"The federal agencies claim that the guidance simply implements the Supreme Court's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, but that decision did not address any of the issues covered by the guidance. The agencies have no authority to unilaterally resolve these sensitive questions, let alone to do so without providing the public with notice and an opportunity to comment," it stressed.
Biden reinstated in January former President Barack Obama's policy based on Title IX regulations that allowed transgender students to use any bathroom and locker in schools, which was reversed by former President Donald Trump during his administration. In addition, Biden signed in the same month an executive order that allowed transgender women to compete in womens sports.
The two directives were part of Biden's commitment to the LGBTQ community during his campaign for the presidency.
