The Great Education Initiative, a Michigan-based nonprofit representing parents and students, recently filed a federal lawsuit in Michigan challenging the Biden-Harris administration’s rewrite of Title IX protections to include gender identity.

The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan aims to block the enforcement of the new Title IX provisions in Michigan schools, following the lead of several states that have successfully secured injunctions.

Title IX prohibits discrimination “on the basis of sex” in education programs and activities that receive federal funding, and the Biden-Harris Title IX revisions that took effect in August expand the definition of “sex” to include gender identity and sexual orientation.

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“GEI asserts that this redefinition not only undermines the original intent of Title IX, which was established to protect women and girls from discrimination in educational settings, but also imposes unconstitutional burdens on students, teachers, and parents, particularly those with religious convictions,” according to a GEI press release.

GEI argues the Biden-Harris rule change was carried out without clear congressional authorization as required, and it violates the statutory text of Title IX, as well as the U.S. Constitution.

“Our members are deeply concerned about the impact this redefinition will have on the privacy, safety, and dignity of students in Michigan schools,” GEI Director Monica Yatooma said. “The Biden Administration has, again, overstepped its authority, and we are taking this action to protect the rights of parents and students who should not be forced to accept policies that conflict with their values, safety concerns, or Constitutional freedoms.”

The lawsuit contends the rule forces schools to violate the First Amendment rights of students, teachers and staff by compelling them to use preferred pronouns and allowing students to access bathrooms and locker rooms based on gender identity, rather than biological sex.

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The change also violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by burdening individuals with sincerely held religious beliefs, according to GEI.

Other issues center on uncomfortable and potentially unsafe situations created by the change that expose schools to legal liabilities, and the executive branch enacting sweeping changes typically reserved for Congress.

GEI is encouraging concerned parents to join its efforts to secure an injunction to stop the changes.

The lawsuit follows similar action in 26 states that have led to injunctions against the Biden-Harris Title IX rule, though Michigan is not among those states. GEI in early October sent a letter to Michigan school superintendents warning about the lawsuit, and the legal consequences of implementing the changes.

“The new Title IX rule has been preliminarily enjoined in twenty-six states and in schools where members of various organizations have children enrolled,” the letter read. “It is likely courts will hear the merits of those cases and issue permanent injunctions that will ultimately discard the new Title IX rule and redefinition.”

“This letter serves as both a cautionary notice and a reminder that adopting the new Title IX policies could lead to immediate legal challenges and potential penalties,” the letter warned.

Multiple cases in Tennessee, and another in Kansas, were appealed by the Biden administration to the U.S. Supreme Court after appeals courts issued the injunctions, and justices upheld those injunctions with a narrow majority in August. Similar cases are pending in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Alabama.

“Schools should be safe havens for all students,” Yatooma said. “Our lawsuit ensures that parents’ voices are heard and that schools do not implement extreme policies that force girls to sacrifice their privacy and safety. This is a fight to uphold the law and protect the rights of Michigan families.”

In Michigan, where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed anti-discrimination legislation last year that includes gender identity, parents in some school districts have already taken legal action to protect their children.

Parents at students at Vicksburg Community Schools sued the district and administrators in August 2023 over school policies that allow biological males to use girls’ private restrooms and locker rooms, MLive reports.

“This case is about the intentional violation of children’s fundamental right to bodily privacy contrary to constitutional and statutory principles, including the Fourteenth Amendment,” the lawsuit reads.

Plaintiffs contend the district “permit(s) boys to use the girls’ locker room, strip naked, and expose themselves to girls.”

“By adopting gender identity theory as the basis for regulating access to private facilities, Defendants are violating sex discrimination law by not protecting students based on sex, but instead imposing an individual’s subjective perception of their gender on other students who value their privacy based on anatomical differences between the sexes,” according to the lawsuit.

While parents have spoken out against the district’s policies at board meetings, VPS has denied the claims in court, alleging “there is no evidence that a transgender student was any less discrete than any other student while using the bathroom or that the stall doors in the bathroom do not provide adequate privacy to all.”

“There has never been any suggestion before the filing of this lawsuit, much less evidence, that any transgender student ever used the bathroom facilities in an inappropriate manner or exposed their genitalia to any students,” the VPS response read.