NASHVILLE - Republican Gov. Bill Haslam on Monday denounced as "heavy handed" President Barack Obama's directive that public schools must allow transgender students to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity and not biological sex.
Tennessee's governor had opposed a bill in this year's General Assembly that sought to restrict public K-12 and college students to restrooms, locker rooms and similar facilities consistent with their birth sex.
At the time, Haslam said local education officials were best positioned to address the issue and he's now criticizing the "long arm" of the federal government.
In his statement issued today, Haslam noted "the White House itself has said what they issued last week is not an enforcement action and does not make any additional requirements under the law."
Haslam said only "Congress has the authority to write the law, not the executive branch, and we disagree with the heavy-handed approach the Obama administration is taking."
The governor added that "decisions on sensitive issues such as these should continue to be made at the local level based on the unique needs of students, families, schools and districts while working closely with the local school board counsel, understanding that this is an emerging area of law that will ultimately be settled by the courts."
Meanwhile, Joe Carr, a former state Republican lawmaker now running for Congress, challenged Haslam and state lawmakers "to immediately join North Carolina in their lawsuit against the Obama Administration's bullying tactics."
Carr also called "every school system in Tennessee to initiate a lawsuit suing the Department of Justice and the Department of Education."
He then sought to put his GOP primary foe, U.S. Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., on the defensive with a challenge that she, other GOP congressmen and Tennessee's two U.S. senators, including U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander whom Carr unsuccessfully challenged in 2014, to "join me in demanding that Governor Haslam and Attorney General Slatery take immediate legal action against the Obama Administration to protect Tennessee's Children.
"It is time that our elected leaders grew a spine and hit back against another unconstitutional Obama order," Carr added.
North Carolina passed a new law this year that among other things restricts transgender students to restrooms and other facilities matching their sex as listed in official school documents. That prompted the U.S. Justice Department to sue and North Carolina government to countersue.
Last week, federal Justice and Education officials issued a directive to all public schools in the nation that they must find ways to accommodate transgender students.
The administration is facing blow back in a number of GOP-led states.
During Tennessee's recently completed legislative session, Haslam had been critical of the Tennessee bill and State Attorney General Herbert Slatery had warned in a legal opinion that it risked the state losing an estimated $1 billion in federal funds due to Obama administration interpretations of Title IX rules against sex discrimination.