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Kansas Joins Transgender Bathroom Lawsuit Against Feds

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt's office announced Wednesday that the state will join a legal challenge to the Obama administration's directive to local schools on the rights of transgender students.

By Daniel Salazar

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt's office announced Wednesday that the state will join a legal challenge to the Obama administration's directive to local schools on the rights of transgender students.

It comes a day after an appeals court in Virginia declined to hear a school district's appeal of a case involving a transgender student who sued after it banned him from using the boys' bathroom. That case now will move forward in federal court.

At issue is whether Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in federally funded schools, applies to a student's gender identity.

Schmidt said the decision in Virginia means "our only option is to pursue a more direct challenge."

"The bottom line is that Kansas will challenge the Obama administration's attempt to unilaterally rewrite Title IX in an unprecedented way that further expands federal power," Schmidt said in a statement. "In our federal system of government, not every decision needs to be handed down from Washington, and this is a matter best left to state or local authorities."

The Kansas Legislature may also take up the issue of transgender bathroom use during sine die, the last day on the legislative calendar.

(c)2016 The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.)

 

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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