(The Center Square) – Tennessee and West Virginia led a five-state lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education challenging the federal overhaul of Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act.
The lawsuit is one of several filed nationally on the topic after Biden’s administration rewrote the Title IX statute to expand the definition of “sex” to include “gender identity.”
“The U.S. Department of Education has no authority to let boys into girls’ locker rooms,” Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti said in a statement. “In the decades since its adoption, Title IX has been universally understood to protect the privacy and safety of women in private spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms.
“Under this radical and illegal attempt to rewrite the statute, if a man enters a woman’s locker room and a woman complains that makes her uncomfortable, the woman will be subject to investigation and penalties for violating the man’s civil rights.”
Skrmetti’s office said the DOE is essentially abolishing sex-based distinctions in educational activities and programs and forcing states to accept radical gender ideology in schools.
The lawsuit, filed in Kentucky, includes Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia.
Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina joined in a similar lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Alabama.