Acadia Parish joins Louisiana AG lawsuit over Title IX changes

CROWLEY, La. (KLFY) — The Acadia Parish School Board has joined Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill in suing the federal government.

The suit is in response to what Murrill calls “the Biden administration’s illegal expansion of Title IX rules” regarding transgender students in schools.

Title IX is the federal law that prohibits educational programs or activities to discriminate on the basis of sex. Under Biden’s new Title IX rules that will take effect Aug. 1, there will be protections from discrimination based on gender identity for the first time and harassment protections for pregnant people and student parents.

For the first time all schools and educational programs that receive federal funding will face consequences if they fail to “promptly” respond to discrimination complaints based on gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.

Biden’s changes also include an expansion to the definition of sexual assault in K-12 schools and colleges.

In the case, named Louisiana v. The U.S. Department of Education, Louisiana is joined by the states of Mississippi, Montana and Idaho.

“It’s something other parishes are doing and we as school board members felt it was a decision we should hop on as well,” Acadia Parish School Board member Delo Herbert Jr. said.

In a statement announcing the lawsuit, Murrill said “the final regulations stand to harm students, parents, teachers, school districts, and states whose own constitutional rights are now in jeopardy, especially their right to Free Speech. If the school chooses not to comply, they risk losing essential Title IX funding while simultaneously facing lawsuits from the federal government and other proponents of these radical mandates.”