ADF files lawsuit challenging five illegal Biden mandates redefining 'sex' in federal law

ADF attorneys represent Rapides Parish School Board in suit against federal rule changes jeopardizing student privacy, safety

ALEXANDRIA, La. – On behalf of a Louisiana school board serving more than 20,000 students, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Friday against the Biden administration for an unlawful and sweeping rewrite of five federal laws and policies to include “gender identity” in the definition of “sex.”

Rapides Parish School Board, which has 42 school campuses that provide pre-K to 12th-grade public education, cares for needy children through several federally funded programs. These include kids from birth to age four in the Head Start program, kids of many ages in child nutrition programs including the National School Lunch Program, and kids who need medical services in school clinics through Medicaid. But during the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission imposed sweeping mandates that force school districts who care for kids in these programs to ignore the biological distinction between male and female in favor of “an individual’s sense of their gender.” ADF attorneys explain these illegal actions harm the children the government claims it’s helping.

“The outgoing Biden administration’s radical redefinition of sex puts school districts in an impossible situation,” said ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman, director of regulatory practice. “Rapides Parish School Board seeks to uphold student privacy, safety, and equal opportunities for women and girls. These mandates demand that the school board lose critical funding or erase the protections it has for its students. We are urging the court to stand up for biological reality in the face of unlawful rule changes that will have devastating consequences for students, teachers, administrators, and families.”

In a similar case, ADF attorneys represent the same school district in challenging the U.S. Department of Education for rewriting the definition of “sex” in Title IX. The district’s case was joined to State of Louisiana v. U.S. Department of Education, which is one of six cases in which federal courts have halted the Biden administration’s attempt to rewrite Title IX before the rule change was ultimately blocked nationwide by a federal district court in Kentucky. ADF attorneys are seeking to secure further protection for students, parents, teachers, and school officials by challenging the other, similar illegal mandates issued by federal agencies under President Biden.

Rapides Parish School Board v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Alexandria Division.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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