The Obama administration has told public schools to let transgender students use the bathroom and locker room matching their gender identify, a directive that Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel calls a "power grab" that the state will not tolerate.
Schimel has decided to include Wisconsin in the federal lawsuit that 11 states filed this week in federal court in Texas. The AG says he finalized his decision after talking with Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
Several GOP Wisconsin legislators proposed a bill last session that would require transgender people to use the bathroom that matches their gender at birth, insisting that to allow otherwise would put children at risk. The bill did not advance, but supporters say they plan to reintroduce it.
Supporters of the Obama administration directive claim it respects the rights of transgender people and bans discrimination against them.
The other states involved in the federal lawsuit, in addition to Wisconsin, are: Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Utah and Maine.
They are asking a judge to declare the directive unlawful.
