Nebraska Joins Lawsuit Against Transgender Rules

Aug. 31, 2021, 5 p.m. ·

First page of lawsuit that lists states who are filing against the Biden administration
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville by Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery. (Screenshot of lawsuit)

Transgender athletes are protected against discrimination in schools. But 20 states, including Nebraska, have filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration to remove those rights.

ACLU of Nebraska’s LGBTQIA+ Rights Expert Sara Rips hopes the case doesn’t advance further.

"We need to ensure that our schools are safe places for all students, and that includes transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming children," she said. "And that, they have the right to be called their names, to have their correct pronouns used, to have access to all of the places that they should have access to."

The lawsuit argues agencies are misinterpreting federal anti-discrimination laws. It says the U.S. Supreme Court case law protects LGBTQ people against discrimination in employment, but not schools. Rips believes the lawsuit is seeking a license to discriminate against transgender youth.

"We as a state who constantly talk about 'Nebraska, it should be for everyone,' 'Nebraska Nice,' 'Nebraska.. the good life,' we should be seriously alarmed that our leading attorneys are seeking to make Nebraska a less hospitable place for some of the most vulnerable people in the state," she said.

In a statement, the Nebraska attorney general said “the agencies have no authority to unilaterally resolve these sensitive questions, let alone to do so without providing the public with notice and an opportunity to comment.”