BATON ROUGE - Louisiana has joined 16 other states in a lawsuit over the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, alarming advocates for the disabled and prompting concern among parents of students with special needs.

Attorney General Liz Murrill said Wednesday that although the suit asks that courts throw out section 504 of the ADA - which prohibits entities receiving federal funding from discriminating against people with disabilities, its intent is to attack the addition of gender dysphoria as a protected disability.

The suit was originally filed in Texas after former President Joe Biden's administration expanded the act's definition of disability to include the diagnosis that is frequently experienced by people who identify as transgender.

Murrill said she expects the larger challenge to section 504 to be dropped.

"I certainly support people, the disabilities community, and understand the value that section 504 has brought to them," she said. "I do not support continuing with that particular part of the lawsuit."

She said Louisiana joined the suit specifically to counter the inclusion of gender dysphoria as a disability.

The  overarching purpose was "challenging this kind of movement to redefine gender across a lot of different regulatory regimes," she said.

The first round of legal briefs are due in court next Tuesday.