Michigan AG Joins Lawsuit to Stop Transgender Bathrooms

Lansing, MI — Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Friday that he is joining a lawsuit filed by a group of states that seeks to overturn federal guidelines intended to protect the right of transgender students.

“Every child in every school must be provided with dignity, privacy, respect and safety,” Schuette said in a statement Friday announcing his decision to join the lawsuit.

The state of Michigan itself is not a party to it, as Gov. Rick Snyder declined to join the lawsuit.

The most controversial of the measures are found in the so-called federal bathroom guidelines that direct schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.

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The letter from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education threatened a loss of federal funds for schools that aren't in compliance.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are from Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Education sent letters to every public school district in the country in May, saying the guidelines are necessary to “ensure that all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex.”

They came on the heels of a debate in Michigan over the State Board of Education guidelines and recommendations to make Michigan schools more welcoming and safer for LGBTQ students. The guidelines in Michigan are similar to those outlined by the federal Justice and Education departments.

In a statement, State Board of Education President John Austin said Shuette is “on the wrong side of history, and wants to represent Michigan as a state inhospitable to our LGBT citizens.”

“Transgender school children, as all children, deserve dignity, respect and the right to be acknowledged and accepted in school, so they can go about the business of getting a great education," said Austen, a chief proponent of the guidelines proposed for Michigan schools.