ALEXANDRIA, La.  (WNTZ) – A far-right advocacy group has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Rapides Parish School Board for what it calls a "radical" reinterpretation of Title IX regulations by the Biden administration.

In the case, Rapides Parish School Board v. United States Department of Education, attorneys for the Alliance Defending Freedom claim the rule will force schools, including those in Rapides Parish, to impose widespread harms on young people and deny free speech on campus. This is the first of multiple lawsuits ADF plans to file challenging the rule.

Title IX is the federal law that prohibits educational programs or activities to discriminate on the basis of sex. Under Biden’s new Title IX rules that will take effect Aug. 1, there will be protections from discrimination based on gender identity for the first time and harassment protections for pregnant people and student parents.

For the first time all schools and educational programs that receive federal funding will face consequences if they fail to “promptly” respond to discrimination complaints based on gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.

Biden’s changes also include an expansion to the definition of sexual assault in K-12 schools and colleges.

"The Department of Education’s fundamental and radical rewriting of federal law forces schools across the country to embrace a controversial gender ideology that harms children—including the very children it claims to help," The ADF said in a news release. "Schools will have to allow males who identify as female to enter girls’ private spaces like bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers; to participate in girls’ physical education classes; and—despite logically inconsistent disclaimers saying otherwise—to play on girls’ sports teams."

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Monday that her office has filed a similar lawsuit against the Department of Education.

“The Biden administration’s radical redefinition of sex turns back the clock on equal opportunity for women, undermines fairness, and threatens every student’s safety and privacy,” said ADF Senior Counsel Natalie Thompson. “The administration continues to ignore biological reality, science, and common sense. The Rapides Parish School Board, and other schools and teachers across the country, are right to stand against the enforcement of this extreme gender ideology, which will have devastating consequences for students, teachers, administrators, and families.”

Located in central Louisiana, the Rapides Parish School Board’s 42 school campuses provide pre-K to 12th grade public education to more than 20,000 students.

Alliance Defending Freedom describes itself as "an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life."

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the group "has supported the recriminalization of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults in the U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; has contended that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in pedophilia; and claims that a 'homosexual agenda' will destroy Christianity and society."

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