An alliance of Christian schools and female athletes are trying to intervene in a lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden’s reinterpretation of sex discrimination, which would effectively allow some biological males to compete against girls in school sports and allow access to their bathrooms and locker rooms.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a nonprofit legal organization working to protect religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life, filed a motion Monday asking a federal district court to allow the Association of Christian Schools International and three female athletes in Arkansas to intervene in State of Tennessee v. United States Department of Education.
The Biden challenge, led by the state of Tennessee, is contending guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that re-interprets Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. “Discrimination on the basis of sex” will now also bar discrimination based on “gender identity” and sexual orientation, subsequently requiring schools subject to Title IX to allow males who identify as female to participate on female athletic teams and use female-designated showers and locker rooms, ADF explained in a press release to The Daily Wire.
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia have joined Tennessee in the lawsuit, which was filed in August.
The reinterpretation of sex discrimination sparked pediatricians and other health care workers in August to join a lawsuit taking on the Biden administration, arguing that the “gender identity” expansion tied to health care would require medical professionals to provide gender-related services and surgeries despite objections, medical or otherwise.
Notably, objections even concerning the treatment of children would be considered “discrimination,” pursuant to the reinterpretation.
The suit, American College of Pediatricians v. Becerra, was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga. ADF is providing representation on behalf of more than 3,000 physicians and health care professionals.
“The American College of Pediatricians, the Catholic Medical Association, and an OB-GYN doctor who specializes in caring for adolescents filed suit in federal court to challenge a Biden administration mandate requiring doctors to perform gender transition procedures on any patient, including a child, if the procedure violates a doctor’s medical judgment or religious beliefs,” read a press release from ADF, released in August.
“The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reinterpreted non-discrimination on the basis of sex in the Affordable Care Act to include gender identity and thus require gender transition interventions, services, surgeries, and drugs on demand, even for children, no matter a doctor’s medical judgment, religious beliefs, or conscientious objection,” ADF claimed.
Related: 3,000-Plus Pediatricians, Medical Professionals Sue Biden Admin Over Transgender Mandate
Related: Teacher Suspended For Refusing To Affirm Children’s ‘Trans’ Pronouns Is Fighting Back
A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to the organization as Christian Schools International. It is the Association of Christian Schools International.