Backlash leads Republican attorneys general to declare support for a
landmark disability rights law
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 [February 22, 2025]
By JOHN HANNA
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican state attorneys general are declaring
their continued support for a landmark federal law protecting disabled
people's rights, after parents expressed fears of losing services for
their disabled children because of a GOP lawsuit opposing transgender
rights.
The attorneys general of 17 states, led by Texas, told a federal judge
this week that a lawsuit they filed in September targets only a rule
imposed last year by then-President Joe Biden's administration declaring
that transgender Americans are protected by a 1973 law barring
discrimination against disabled people. The state officials said they
are not attacking — and have never attacked — the law itself, which
requires institutions receiving federal funds to make accommodations for
disabled people.
The states' lawsuit attracted little attention until about a month ago,
when disability rights advocates first publicly highlighted parts they
saw as potentially wiping out decades' worth of legal protections for
disabled people. The alarmed parents included John and Tayler Cantrell
of Topeka, whose 4-year-old son, Cooper, has a medical condition that
left half his brain dead at birth, and they see the anti-discrimination
law as crucial for him and other children to thrive.
“It levels the playing field, giving every child, no matter their
challenges, a fighting chance,” John Cantrell said during a news
conference this week called by Democratic legislators.
The states are challenging a U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services rule imposed in May. It says that under federal
anti-discrimination laws, a disability can include gender dysphoria,
which is the distress people feel when their gender identity doesn't
match the gender assigned at birth. The states fear losing federal funds
for not recognizing transgender residents' gender identities.
One count in the lawsuit is titled, “Section 504 is Unconstitutional,”
referring to the key section of the 1973 anti-discrimination law, and
another line asks a judge to bar HHS from "enforcing Section 504.” But
the attorneys general said those words apply only to the specific rule.
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John Cantrell, of Topeka, Kan., answers questions from reporters
about a potential threat to a landmark disability rights law from a
lawsuit filed by Republican state attorneys general, Monday, Feb.
17, 2025, at the Statehouse in Topeka. Listening to him speak are,
from left to right, Rep. Mari-Lynn Poskin, D-Leawood, and his wife,
Tayler. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
 “I think a lot of people who are not
used to reading legal complaints took that to mean something else,”
said Jeff LeMaster, a spokesperson for Attorney General Tim Griffin
in Arkansas, one of the states involved.
In their filing, the attorneys general also said their lawsuit is on
hold while President Donald Trump's administration reviews the HHS
rule. Trump has issued executive orders targeting transgender
rights, and his administration could repeal the HHS rule.
Iowa's Republican attorney general, Brenna Bird, argued that the
Biden administration pursued the rule at the expense of disabled
children.
“I am suing to make certain kids, and Americans with disabilities,
have the support they need to succeed,” Bird said in a statement.
But Kansas state Rep. Alexis Simmons, a Topeka Democrat, said
Republican officials' zeal for targeting transgender people led them
to also attack disabled Americans.
“It was our duty to amplify the voices of our constituents,” she
said. “For them to be heard and action taken is exactly what we
wanted.”
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