Utah AG joins suit against Biden over LGBTQ-friendly policy, Cox pens letter

Utah joined 21 other states in a lawsuit against the Biden administration over a rule that would cut federal meal funding for schools that don’t include LGBT-friendly policies.

“The Biden administration is unlawfully expanding Title IX to include discrimination based on sexual orientation or sexual identity in an effort to force policy in Utah schools,” Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes wrote in a statement. “The federal government should not hold food for school children hostage to force policy change. The administration is unlawfully trying to rewrite the law and is placing essential nutritional services for Utah’s children at risk.” Utah Governor Spencer Cox sent a letter to the president, saying the directive “will only inflame and polarize the debate further.” “[Y]our administration’s policy on this front is a mistake for at least two reasons. First, deeply sensitive and contentious areas of policy are best left to states, where different populations will come to different conclusions and solutions. Using the hammer of federal funding to force states to adopt policies they don’t support is the height of federal arrogance. It cuts off policy innovation, creates resentment, and lets problems fester.”

“In our own discussions in Utah over how to manage school policies related to gender identity and sexual orientation, I have tried to turn down the temperature and look for common ground between opposing sides. As I wrote in a letter to Utah’s Legislature earlier this year, “The transgender sports participation issue is one of the most divisive of our time. Because there are logical and passionate arguments by many parties, finding compromise or common ground can be difficult. The changes your administration is proposing fail t0 seek that compromise or common ground, and in fact, make such compromise far more difficult. They also, ironically, make any final resolution less likely, as the rule and guidance is certain to be rescinded by a future Republican president.”

“I strongly encourage you to pull back the proposed rules and policy guidance and consider how to ‘work more collaboratively with sates. Letting states come up with different answers to difficult questions is the foundation of our system of federalism,” Cox concluded. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III led the lawsuit, arguing that the guidelines are unlawful, in part because they are “based on a misapplication of U.S. Supreme Court precedents,” according to an Indiana AG’s office press release.

“We all know the Biden administration is dead-set on imposing an extreme left-wing agenda on Americans nationwide. But they’ve reached a new level of shamelessness with this ploy of holding up food assistance for low-income kids unless schools do the Left’s bidding,” Rokita said, according to the release.

The 22 states that signed on to the case are Tennessee, Indiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.