Tampa Christian School Sues Biden, Nikki Fried Over Gender Ideology Mandate Tied to School Lunch Funding

August 2, 2022 Updated 2:46 P.M. ET

TAMPA (FLV) – Grant Park Christian Academy filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried over requiring schools to adopt changes to Title IX or risk losing federal lunch money for low-income students.

Every student at Grant Park Christian Academy comes from a low-income family and depends on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program for free meals at school, according to a press release from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) changed the interpretation of Title IX to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Biden Administration has said schools need to comply with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s interpretation of Title IX in order to participate in the USDA’s National School Lunch Program.

“The regulations… will strengthen protections for LGBTQI+ students who face discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” the Department of Education said.

However, ADF said accepting the new definition of means the school would “abandon its religious beliefs about human sexuality.”

“Grant Park Christian Academy treats every student with dignity and respect, no matter what. But the school cannot abandon its religious beliefs about human sexuality – that God made us male and female,” ADF said. “Furthermore, as a religious institution that adheres to these traditional Christian beliefs, the school is exempt from Title IX.”

The school contacted Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture who is responsible for administering the National School Lunch Program in the state. Nikki Fried’s office told the school they had to comply with federal program regulations in order to participate in the school lunch funding.

“The meaning behind that message was clear: to receive federal funding, Grant Park Christian Academy had to comply with all federal regulations in the National School Lunch Program—and that Commissioner Fried was not recognizing any exemption,” ADF said.

Florida Department of Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, Jr. sent a letter to Florida schools on July 28th saying the Biden Administration’s Title IX guidance documents are “not binding law.”

“The Department will not stand idly by as federal agencies attempt to impose a sexual ideology on Florida schools that risk the health, safety, and welfare of Florida students,” Diaz said in his letter to schools Thursday.

Diaz told school leaders not to modify their practices or procedures based on the USDA or USDOE guidance documents. That includes allowing biological males into female bathrooms.

“Specifically, for example, nothing in these guidance documents requires you to give biological males who identify as female access to female bathrooms, locker rooms, or dorms; to assign biological males who identify as female to female rooms on school field trips; or to allow biological males who identify as female to compete on female sports teams,” Diaz said.

On Friday, Commissioner Nikki Fried responded to the education commissioner’s letter.

“I’m going to just come out and call this exactly what it is: it’s extremism politics getting in the way of feeding kids,” Fried said. “I will not allow Governor DeSantis or anyone to deny food to hungry kids for any reason – but especially not because they want to reserve the right to discriminate against them.”

Fried said the new guidance requires school participating in the federal lunch program to hang a poster with the updated Title IX nondiscrimination statements about sexual orientation and gender identity.

“I believe as an elected official, I have a moral responsibility to do everything I can to help kids get the food they need – but they think they have the right to discriminate against kids and actually deny them food. It would be great if we could all work together to make sure Florida kids have everything they need, but I’ll keep doing their jobs for them and leading that charge here at the Florida Department of Agriculture,” Fried said.