Ten states have filed a lawsuit
challenging a directive by the Obama administration advising schools
to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice.
The lawsuit, filed Friday, is led by
Nebraska. Other states participating in the lawsuit include Ohio,
Michigan, Arkansas, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina,
South Dakota and Wyoming.
The lawsuit claims that the federal
government does not have the authority to redefine the term “sex”
to include gender identity.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson
said Friday that the Department of Education had “taken action
beyond the scope of their authority.”
A similar challenge announced in May is
being led by Texas.
Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, a
Republican, has urged school boards to reject the federal
government's guidance, calling it “bullying.”
“I said this to local school boards
as well, I urge you to not be bullied by this federal
administration,” Ricketts
said. “As a parent, I would be very concerned if someone of
the opposite gender was trying to use the bathroom as my child.”