States file another lawsuit over Obama transgender rules

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas and four other Republican-led states filed another lawsuit today seeking to roll back the Obama administration's efforts to strengthen transgender rights, saying new federal nondiscrimination health rules could force doctors to act contrary to their medical judgment or religious beliefs.

The lawsuit is the second this summer in which conservative states have sued over recent moves by federal officials that amount to a defense of transgender persons in U.S. public schools and the health care system.

Social conservatives claimed victory Sunday when a federal judge in Texas halted an Obama administration directive requiring schools to let transgender students use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Now they're asking that same court to block new regulations intended to ban discrimination by doctors, hospitals and insurers against transgender persons.

The latest lawsuit contends that the rules, which were finalized in May, could force doctors to help with gender transition contrary to their religious beliefs or medical judgment. Transgender-rights advocates called that a far-fetched hypothetical, saying a person would not approach a doctor who lacked suitable experience and expertise.

Joining Texas in the lawsuit are Wisconsin, Kentucky, Nebraska and Kansas, along with the Christian Medical and Dental Association and Franciscan Alliance, an Indiana-based network of religious hospitals.

"It discards independent medical judgment and a physician's duty to his or her patient's permanent well-being and replaces them with rigid commands," the lawsuit states.