Republican education officials told teachers and administrators in their states to resist new Biden administration policies eroding Title IX protections with transgender ideology.
New rules issued by the Department of Education would redefine “sex discrimination” to involve sex characteristics, pregnancy, “sexual orientation,” and “gender identity,” allowing for students to use their preferred locker rooms and restrooms, as well as access scholarships for the opposite sex and compel speech by requiring use of their preferred pronouns. Several officials threatened to challenge the effort in court and told educators to ignore the rule.
Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said his state will “not comply” and not allow the White House to “inject men into women’s activities” or “undermine the rights of parents.” He previously signed a bill restricting male and female sports leagues to the true sex of students.
Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said in a letter to educators asserting that the Biden administration rules are “illegal and unconstitutional,” noting that federal officials have “not been given the legislative or judicial authority” to redefine “sex.”
“Please do not make any district policy changes based on the new Title IX regulations,” Walters wrote in the document. “These federal rule changes are illegal and making policy changes before the courts come to a definitive ruling on the legality of these rules could put your district out of compliance with other current and legal state and federal statute.”
Louisiana Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley wrote in a similar letter that the new rules likely “create a conflict with Louisiana law,” meaning educators should “not alter policies or procedures” in response. “This expanded definition is unsupported by the text of Title IX, its implementing regulations, and the law’s extensive congressional history and record of debate and deliberation,” he advised. “This rule runs contradictory to the entire foundation of Title IX.”
The efforts from the Biden administration to erode Title IX protections for women and girls occur as state lawmakers debate policies surrounding transgenderism, with conservatives noting the biological impossibility of changing individual sex. At least twenty-three states have now passed prohibitions on transgender surgeries and hormone procedures for minors, while at least twenty have approved bans on males participating in female sports leagues.
