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A Tennessee state lawmaker has ordered state universities to suspend policies that designate LGBTQ+ students as a protected class, the Tennessee Lookout reported.
State representative John Ragan’s order, sent in a letter to East Tennessee State University president Brian Noland, follows a federal court decision to block the Biden administration’s new Title IX guidance that would formally protect LGBTQ+ students. Tennessee is leading a lawsuit against the new Title IX regulations.
Ragan, a Republican who serves as House chairman of the Legislature’s Joint Government Operations Committee, told the university that policies following the new Title IX guidance would violate state laws, and that “any publications, policies and website entries for which your institution is responsible that state or imply that LGBTQI+ students are a protected class under Title IX” should be removed. He wants a response by Friday, according to the Lookout.
Tennessee Democrats and LGBTQ+ advocates criticized Ragan’s letter while an East Tennessee State University spokeswoman told the Lookout that the university’s legal team was reviewing the document.
