22 GOP Attorneys General Sue USDA Over LGBTQ+ Non-Discrimination
A lawsuit filed by more than 20 Republican attorneys general challenges the Biden administration over a Department of Agriculture policy prohibiting discrimination in the school lunch program based on sexual orientation and gender identity for school meals.Tennessee attorney general Herbert Slatery filed the lawsuit claiming the federal government misinterprets the law on antidiscrimination measures.Attorneys general hope this challenge will achieve a similar result to the one in which a federal judge in Tennessee temporarily barred two federal agencies from enforcing LGBTQ+ protections earlier this month.The judge ruled for the 20 state attorneys general that the directives violated states’ rights, including state laws that prohibit students from playing on sports teams based on their gender identities as well as requiring schools and businesses to provide transgender students access to appropriate bathrooms and showers.“This case is, yet again, about a federal agency trying to change law, which is Congress’ exclusive prerogative,” Slatery said in a statement to the Associated Press. “The USDA simply does not have that authority.
We have successfully challenged the Biden Administration’s other attempts to rewrite law and we will challenge this as well.”Virginia’s Jason Miyares is among the 22 attorneys general signed onto the lawsuit.
He was elected in 2020 alongside rumored 2024 Republican presidential hopeful Gov. Glenn Youngkin during a campaign that focused mainly on parents’ rights and the non-existent bogeyman of critical race theory, a set of concepts taught in some law schools that analyze structural racism in the context of American life.