Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of 10 states seeking to block President Barack Obama’s historic guidance to ensure the dignity and equal treatment of transgender students in public and federally-funded schools.
The lawsuit filed by Peterson seeks to rescind the Obama administration’s recent guidance on transgender student rights, and mirrors a similar legal attack led Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on behalf of his state and 10 others.
“Neither the text nor the legislative history of Title IX supports an interpretation of the term ‘sex’ as meaning anything other than one’s sex as determined by anatomy and genetics,” the suit asserts, claiming the expanded interpretation was “arbitrary and capricious,” reports The Advocate.” It also expresses concern about those who may be uncomfortable with transgender people, saying the federal government had not considered “important aspects of the dignity and privacy issues implicated for schools and other institutions caused by redefining the word ‘sex’ in these statutory schemes.”
In a press release, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson added, “When a federal agency takes such unilateral action in an attempt to change the meaning of established law, it is incumbent upon those who want to maintain the rule of law to pursue legal clarity in federal court in order to enforce the rule of law.”
The federal guidance document on treatment of trans students, issued in May, is not legally binding, but it does advise schools on how to comply with their legal obligations to students, the report continues. Schools that do not comply may lose federal funding.
“It’s a sad day when powerful law enforcement officials come together to harm children by collectively discriminating against them simply because of who they are,” said JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president for policy and political affairs at The Human Rights Campaign. “Doug Peterson and his fellow attorneys general — such as Ken Paxton, who launched a similar attack this week — should be working to ensure that transgender students can learn in safe, respectful environments, not targeting them for discrimination and bullying. This is shameful.”
