Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings joins a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for discriminating against transgender people.
Jennings joined the 11 other attorneys general in filing the lawsuit last week.
The lawsuit claims HHS unlawfully conditioned hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding on states’ agreement to discriminate against transgender people.
The new HHS policy would require recipients of federal health, education and research funding to certify compliance with a presidential executive order that the states suing argue seeks to deny the existence of transgender people.
They say the policy also imposes rigid, unscientific definitions of sex.
Jennings and her colleagues argue HHS has no authority to impose those conditions, and say it’s illegal to use federal funding to make states discriminate against their residents in violation of state laws protecting transgender people from discrimination.
“This is not the first time that the Trump Administration has sought to destroy Delaware’s health, education, and research sectors,” said Jennings. “This time, they’ve taken the added measure of trying to attack transgender people in the process. Like the countless other illegal measures that this Administration has tried to force upon us, we’ll fight this one, too – and we’ll win.”
The policy also required states, public universities, health agencies, hospitals and other recipients of federal funds to certify compliance with Title IX protections.
According to the lawsuit, grant recipients could face termination of grants, repayment of funds and even civil or criminal liability if they’re found out of compliance, and the policy applies to all grants including existing ones.
“The federal government does not get to hold Delaware hostage and demand discrimination as the price of doing business,” Governor Matt Meyer said. "Delaware will fight any attempt to force our state to betray its values or abandon its people.”
The lawsuit is asking the court to declare the policy unlawful and block HHS from enforcing it.
Joining Jennings in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of New York, Rhode Island, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.
