An 18-state coalition led by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a brief opposing the Biden administration’s reinterpretation of Title IX allowing transgender girls to participate in girls’ sports.
The lawsuit, Tennessee v. Department of Education, challenges the Biden administration’s reinterpretation of Title IX that allows males to compete on female athletic teams as well as use female-designated showers and locker rooms. In addition, the Biden administration’s reinterpretation of Title IX would “compel individuals to use biologically inaccurate preferred pronouns.”
Schools and other government-funded institutions are prohibited from discriminating against women under Title IX.
Title IX states:
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
The attorneys general argue in their brief that the circuit court should uphold the district court’s preliminary injunction against the “unlawful guidance” issued by the Department of Education and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
As a result of the preliminary injunction issued by the Eastern District of Tennessee in July 2022, Tennessee and 19 other states are protected from U.S. Department of Education and EEOC guidance documents purporting to redefine sex discrimination under Title VII and Title IX.
“The now-enjoined guidance attempted to force schools to allow biological males to compete on girls’ sports teams, to prohibit sex-separated showers and locker rooms, and to compel individuals to use biologically inaccurate preferred pronouns,” General Skrmetti said in a press release.
Tennessee’s Skrmetti is leading the coalition and joined by the following states in filing the brief: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia.
Skrmetti has previously called the Biden administration’s reinterpretation of Title XI “federal overreach that interferes with the state’s ability to make its own decisions.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Jonathan Skrmetti” by Tennessee Attorney General. Background Photo “Women’s Sports” by Noelle Otto.
