NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has filed a brief defending an injunction which prevents transgender individuals from competing on sports teams or use locker rooms of the opposite biological sex.

The brief supports a 2022 injunction by the Eastern District of Tennessee and 19 other states pausing guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and EEOC to expand Title IX protections to transgender individuals.

According to a release from the AG office on the brief, Skrmetti's office believes the federal guidance " attempted to force schools to allow biological males to compete on girls’ sports teams, to prohibit sex-separated showers and locker rooms, and to compel individuals to use biologically inaccurate preferred pronouns."

The brief is in response to an appeal by the federal government regarding the 2022 injunction, arguing the case for the injunction to stay in place. The brief states the Department of Education "has once again ordered States and other regulated parties to ignore the biological reality of sex when it comes to athletics, locker rooms, pronouns, and who knows what else, or face enforcement actions."

The brief also argues states have the right to challenge the guidance from the federal government since it would " prevent irreparable harm to their sovereign interests."

Tennessee is joined by a coalition of 19 other states in the brief, including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia.

See the full brief below or CLICK HERE: