Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton joined 21 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s new guidance on sex and gender discrimination for schools and programs that receive federal nutritional assistance.

The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee and names the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as the defendant.

On May 5, the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) issued guidance that stated discrimination based on sex in Title IX and the Food and Nutrition Act includes discrimination based on “sexual orientation and gender identity.”

As a result of the guidance, state and local agencies and other programs that receive federal taxpayer funds from FNS would be required to investigate allegations of “discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.”

Those organizations must also update their non-discrimination policies and signage to include prohibitions against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Failure to comply with the guidance could result in the agencies and programs losing their FNS-issued taxpayer funds.

“USDA is committed to administering all its programs with equity and fairness, and serving those in need with the highest dignity. A key step in advancing these principles is rooting out discrimination in any form – including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” stated Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack when announcing the guidance back in May.

“At the same time, we must recognize the vulnerability of the LGBTQI+ communities and provide them with an avenue to grieve any discrimination they face,” Vilsack added. “We hope that by standing firm against these inequities we will help bring about much-needed change.”

The USDA said the guidance was in line with an executive order signed by President Joe Biden in January 2021, which was aimed at “preventing and combating discrimination” based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

The agency also said the guidance is valid based on the 2020 Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County.

The AGs’ lawsuit claimed the guidance was based on a misunderstanding of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock and was improperly issued without providing the individual states and other stakeholders the opportunity for input as required by the Administrative Procedure Act.

The AGs further claimed that the guidance imposes unlawful regulatory measures on state agencies and operators receiving federal taxpayer dollars from the USDA, threatening essential nutritional programs for some of the country’s most vulnerable citizens.

One program the USDA pays for using federal taxpayer money is the National School Lunch Program, which provides breakfast, lunch, or both to nearly 30 million school children daily.

Joining Paxton in the lawsuit are the AGs from the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.

“The Biden Administration wants to force every State to adopt its radical agenda, and to punish those financially who do not comply,” stated Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor. “The guidance threatens to take away those children’s meals unless the local schools adopt a pro-transgender agenda. This is just another example of Biden bullying Americans by attacking our children.”

On June, 26 state AGs signed a letter directed to President Biden, calling on him to withdraw the USDA’s guidance.

“The Biden Administration is attempting to force every state and local entity to adopt its sexual orientation and gender identity agenda—or suffer massive financial consequences,” stated Attorney General Paxton in June. “Bostock was wrong from the start, and any unlawful expansion of it into new areas is doubly wrong. I won’t let Biden’s Department of Agriculture bully Texas into adopting its radical agenda or use kids and school lunch programs as his pawns.”