AMAC EXCLUSIVE
Under the banner of creating “gender equity,” the Biden administration just gutted crucial protections for women and girls and paved the way for the transgender movement’s complete destruction of female-only spaces.
In late April, after multiple delays and hundreds of thousands of public comments opposing the proposed changes, the Biden Department of Education finalized its overhaul of Title IX, the landmark 1972 law establishing important protections against sex-based discrimination. But instead of strengthening those protections, Biden’s rewrite tears them down and unilaterally redefines sex and gender according to radical gender theory.
As a result, in any educational institution which receives federal funding, males who identify as women can now enter women’s restroom and locker room facilities, citing Title IX as their justification for doing so.
Following the publication of the new policy, most media coverage has focused on the reversal of a Trump-era rule requiring colleges to follow due process in handling sexual misconduct cases.
And indeed, this change should be alarming for anyone concerned about ensuring the rights of both accusers and accused are respected in such cases. Even the far-left ACLU has spoken out against the idea that universities are now not required to “provide a live hearing and an opportunity for cross-examination where serious sanctions, such as suspension or expulsion, may apply.”
But the most egregious change under the new policy is the inclusion of self-professed gender identity under the definition of “sex” – something which Congress never intended when it passed the original law.
Some states and individual school districts have already taken action to prevent males from using women’s restrooms and locker rooms by simply claiming that they identify as a woman. But Biden’s new rules will supersede those laws and regulations and force schools to comply with the Biden administration’s radical interpretation of “gender identity.”
Parents who oppose the policy will be left with few options. Those who can’t afford homeschool or private school will be forced to allow their daughters to undress in front of males and perhaps even share hotel rooms with them on overnight trips – all in order to appease left-wing transgender activists.
Other changes to Title IX to supposedly protect against “gender-based discrimination” also enshrine key elements of far-left gender ideology in federal law.
For instance, the Biden administration has now expanded the definition of “harassment” to include not using someone’s preferred pronouns. Imagine a case where a student refuses to use absurd “neo-pronouns” like “xe/xir” or “fae/faer,” and instead refers to others only by biologically correct pronouns. That student could now be subject to disciplinary action under Title IX, while his or her school could face a federal civil rights investigation.
This terrifying prospect isn’t just theoretical; last November, while the new rules were still under review, Biden’s Department of Education launched an investigation into California’s Taft College after a student alleged his professors were “misgendering” him. Such cases are likely to become significantly more common in the months and years ahead.
As Teresa Manning, policy director for the National Association of Scholars, has pointed out, not only is this policy morally reprehensible, it is also a blatant violation of the First Amendment: “In the public education setting, students and faculty can speak—or not speak—according to their conscience. Title IX cannot change that, no matter what Biden administration officials say.”
Biden’s Title IX rewrite also further undermines parental rights by discouraging schools from disclosing to parents if their child has chosen a new gender identity or is being socially transitioned at school. As Ginny Gentles of the Independent Women’s Forum has reported, “Although the administration’s Title IX rule commentary claims that ‘nothing in these final regulations prevents a recipient from disclosing information about a minor child to their parent who has the legal right to receive disclosures on behalf of their child,’ the rule directly instructs schools to update their internal gender identity policies and points to examples of state and district policies that explicitly require schools to hide a child’s chosen identity from his or her parents.”
The new rules are set to take effect just three months from now, this August, but some conservative leaders and organizations have already taken action to challenge them.
In Georgia, Attorney General Chris Carr has filed a lawsuit to block the Title IX revision. “While different administrations can have different policy views, they cannot override the text that Congress enacted in 1972 or overrule the binding precedent of this circuit. The Biden rule does both—to the detriment of the States, their schools, and their students,” the lawsuit reads. Alabama, South Carolina, and Florida have also joined the case.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has also said his state’s education agency will ignore the Title IX revisions, calling them “illegal” and a “ham-handed effort to impose a leftist belief onto Title IX.”
While such opposition to Biden’s Title IX rewrite at the state level is welcome and needed, it may not be enough to stop implementation of the new rules. Absent congressional action – or Biden’s defeat this November – Title IX’s 50-year-old protections for women and girls may be about to come crashing down.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on X @ShaneHarris513.
