Eleven American states and state officials filed a lawsuit challenging Barack Obama's Administration over federal guidance directing schools to allow transgender students to use restrooms and other facilities that match their gender identities.
The federal lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, states that the guidance "has no basis in law" and could cause "seismic changes in the operations of the nation's school districts".
State officials have hinted they might file a legal challenge since the Obama Administration released a letter earlier this month from the Justice Department and the Education Department that the federal agencies said was in response to questions from schools around the country.
"There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex," Attorney-General Loretta Lynch said in a statement when the letter was released. "This guidance gives administrators, teachers, and parents the tools they need to protect transgender students from peer harassment and to identify and address unjust school policies."
In that letter, the two agencies cited Title IX, which prohibits sexual discrimination at educational facilities that receive federal funding, and said that this extended to how schools treat transgender students. The lawsuit filed today argues that the Obama Administration was "officially foisting its new version of federal law" on schools and accuses federal officials of seeking "to rewrite Title IX by executive fiat".