Ohio AG joins 19 other states to protect schools from Biden Administration overreach

COLUMBUS — As of late, the rule of thumb for federal bureaucracy has been to bend the law. Unfortunately, the Biden Administration demonstrates it has no shame using children as pawns to indoctrinate its political beliefs. In response, a group of Attorney Generals across the nation are taking to task several administrative agencies and reminding them they do not have the authority to change laws.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has joined nineteen other State Attorneys Generals in suing the federal government for threatening to remove schools’ federal funds if they protect the privacy and safety of girls, and if schools do not force students to use “preferred pronouns.”  The complaint challenges recent administrative actions by the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that rewrite two laws governing discrimination on the basis of sex.

“Rule by administrative overreach may seem convenient, but tossing the process our Constitution requires will inevitably trample the liberties of our most vulnerable,” Attorney General Yost said. “I will always defend the rights of our citizens to be a part of the legislative process and work to stop the abuses of a recalcitrant administrative state determined to bypass them.” 

The lawsuit first challenges an interpretation by the Department of Education that attempts to require schools nationwide to implement federal policies regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. Nowhere does the Constitution provide authority for the federal government to run the nation’s schools and their athletic programs.

“The Biden administration continues to abuse executive authority to enforce a dangerous and radical ideology on children. The President knows this kind of attack on the privacy and safety of girls could never pass Congress, so he’s taken matters into his own hands by issuing a sweeping order that will harm countless children,” said Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) President Aaron Baer.

Without warning the Department of Education in June changed the conditions and decided that Title IX, in addition to discrimination on the basis of sex, applies to nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  This profound change was not accomplished through a law change by Congress, or even through an administrative process, but only through a unilateral interpretation.

“CCV and families across Ohio are grateful to have a leader like Attorney General Yost willing to say, ‘Enough is enough,’ and to fight for our children and the Constitution in court. Attorney General Dave Yost has consistently stood up for the rule of law and for families. “

Secondly, the lawsuit challenges a recent interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling by which the EEOC asserts a power that it does not have to redefine law. 

In Bostock v. Clayton County, the Supreme Court ruled that, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of1964, employers may not fire employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Although the EEOC cannot issue rules and regulations under Title VII, the commission interpretation attempts to expand the Bostock ruling to mandate employers adopt practices regarding pronouns, access to shared bathrooms, uniforms, and other matters, issues that the Bostock decision did not address. 

The state of Tennessee is leading the legal effort by the states, and is joined, besides Ohio, by Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota.

Yost continues to represent mainstream Ohioans. The faith community in North Central Ohio has repeatedly spoken out on the restroom privacy issue supporting biological gender interpretation. A bill to add sexual orientation and gender identity to protected classes in the state has failed multiple times, and has not made it past committee hearings.

Local school officials and parents will be eagerly awaiting the outcome of the legal process as the Federal government continues to deny biology.

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The Bottom Line:

The Bible says in First Conrinthians, “For GOD is not a god of confusion and disorder, but of peace and order.”