Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on Monday in an effort to block President Joe Biden from expanding federal sex discrimination protections under Title IX to include transgender students.
Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination at federally funded colleges and K-12 schools. Earlier this month, the Biden administration updated the law to expand protections for LGBTQ+ and pregnant students. The Biden administration's expansion comes in response to a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case related to workplace discrimination in which it ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII, a civil rights law that bars employment discrimination on the basis of sex, applied to gay and transgender workers, The Texas Tribune reported.
Paxton announced on Monday that he's suing the Biden administration to block the expanded definition as he took aim at the inclusion of "one's self-professed 'gender identity.'"
"Texas will not allow Joe Biden to rewrite Title IX at whim, destroying legal protections for women in furtherance of his radical obsession with gender ideology. This attempt to subvert federal law is plainly illegal, undemocratic, and divorced from reality. Texas will always take the lead to oppose Biden's extremist, destructive policies that put women at risk," Paxton said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
The attorney general also claimed the protections "force schools to accommodate" transgender students, adding that if schools do not comply federal funding would be withheld.
"The new rule contorts these protections for women by forcing schools to accommodate the wishes of men claiming to identify as women (or "transgender") to enter female-only spaces and join female-only organizations. This would force schools to permit biological males to use female restrooms and lockers. If schools refused, federal funding would be withheld," Paxton added in his statement.
Newsweek has reached out to Paxton's office and the White House via email for comment.
The revised Title IX rules define sex-based harassment to include harassment based on sex stereotypes, pregnancy and related conditions, as well as gender identity and sexual orientation. It codifies initial guidance documents, which the attorney general's office had previously sued the Biden administration over.
Paxton is the latest Republican who is pledging to block the change from taking effect.
Top education officials in Florida, Louisiana, Wyoming, South Carolina and Oklahoma have publicly rebuked the Biden administration's new Title IX protections.
On Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, took aim at the extended protections and said the state plans to "fight back" against the new regulations as he said it undermines the right of parents to control their children's education.
Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, signed by DeSantis in 2021 and expanded late last year, prevents teachers from addressing sexuality and gender identity in the classroom.
At least 510 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislatures across the country in 2023, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
However, GLSEN, an American education organization working to end discrimination, harassment and bullying based on gender identity, has continued to advocate for LGBTQ+ students to be protected under Title IX, adding that it is "critical to protecting LGBTQI+ students' equal access and opportunities to educational programs and activities."
Newsweek has also reached out to GLSEN via email for comment.
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