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Texas will file a lawsuit aimed at stopping the Obama administration's guidance to U.S. public schools this month that transgender students must be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice, Republican Governor Greg Abbott said on Wednesday.
"Texas will sue to stop (President Barack) Obama's transgender directive to schools," Abbott said in a Twitter post.
The governor linked to a news article referencing the expected announcement of the legal challenge during a news conference that Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has scheduled for later on Wednesday.
The administration's May 13 announcement upset many conservatives across the country, with Paxton immediately threatening to fight the Obama administration's stance in the latest battleground on the issue of rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The U.S. Education and Justice Departments said in a letter sent to school districts nationwide that while its guidance carried no legal weight, they must not discriminate against students, including based on their gender identity.
The directive suggested that school districts defying the Obama administration's legal interpretation could face lawsuits or loss of federal aid.
Texas is now the 11th state to sue the Obama administration over its guidelines for school bathrooms and trans people.
According to Vox, “the lawsuit is a challenge to a federal guidance telling public schools to let trans students, who identify with a gender different than the one assigned to them at birth, use the bathroom or locker room for their gender identity. The guidance is an implicit threat to states and schools, which could lose up to billions in federal funding for education if they don't comply.”
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