Florida sues Biden administration over Title IX

By Kimberly Leonard

On April 30, 2024

Florida is once again fighting with the Biden administration over two familiar topics: education and LGBTQ+ rights.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the Biden administration’s rules creating new anti-discrimination protections for transgender and nonbinary students. The rules, expected to take effect in August, apply to a federal education policy called Title IX that’s intended to guarantee women’s equality in schools and colleges.

The 84-page lawsuit argues that the 1970s law in question was only intended to apply to binary sex and charges that rulemaking stating otherwise is illegal. The Biden administration has been working on an overhaul of Trump-era rules interpreting Title IX since 2022.

Florida’s lawsuit was expected, and it was far from the only red-leaning state to sue on Monday. It follows a DeSantis administration memo from last week telling Florida schools to ignore the Biden administration’s new rules, as POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury reported. Both Moody and Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz warned the Title IX rules would make sex-separated locker rooms and bathrooms unsafe and override Florida laws that mandate them. The attorney general also said she was worried that cisgender women might be forced to share a dorm room with transgender women. (Moody did not use the terminology that recognizes trans peoples’ preferred gender identity in her release about the lawsuit.)

Diaz warned the Biden rules would override the Parental Rights in Education Act, the law Democrats and other critics call “Don’t Say Gay,” which forbids instruction about LGBTQ+ topics in public schools for all grades. Florida law also says teachers can’t be forced to use preferred pronouns for colleagues or students, while the Title IX rules say deliberate misgendering can constitute harassment depending on the situation.

Moody, who is interested in running for governor in 2026, is a close DeSantis ally who endorsed him early in the 2024 presidential primary. She also has made numerous moves in recent months to draw a contrast with the Biden administration, including on federal student loan cancellation, illegal immigration and a rule for employers to accommodate time off for abortions.

The latest lawsuit indicates that Florida has no intention of backing down from its stance on LGBTQ+ policy issues, even as DeSantis has changed some of his approaches to personal relationships and his public persona since dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

Moody filed the lawsuit alongside other Republican attorneys general from Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, as well as conservative organizations Independent Women’s Law Center, the Independent Women’s Network, Parents Defending Education and Speech First Inc. Other states filed a separate lawsuit. Moody said in a statement that the rules “shred protections for women” and accused federal officials of failing to think through “real-world consequences.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

WHERE’s RON? Gov. DeSantis is holding several public events and announcements across the state, his office said. His first stop is in South Naples at 9 a.m. “Floridians who love the outdoors and are looking forward to summer should definitely tune in,” said DeSantis spokesperson Bryan Griffin. The appearances will air on the governor’s Rumble page.

This piece ws republished from the Politico.