Tell U.S. Department of Education Proposed Title IX Rules Must Protect Women and Girls
The U.S. Department of Education plans to propose new Title IX rules in April of 2022. While the exact substance of the proposed rule(s) is not yet known, they are likely to have wide-ranging effects on the rights of women and girls to same-sex sports teams, locker rooms, bathrooms, and similar facilities. There are also disturbing implications for free speech on campus.
What is Title IX?
Passed in 1972, Title IX is vital, widely-supported civil rights legislation for women and girls. It prevents discrimination on the basis of sex in federally-funded educational activities, including student athletics. And it allows for single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms, as well as female-only sports teams.
Historically, the “sex” in “sex-based discrimination” has referred to the actual meaning of the word - biological sex. But in 2021, Biden issued an Executive Order directing federal agencies to interpret “sex” as also including “sexual orientation and gender identity” and to create new regulations to enact this interpretation.
Current Threats
Since Biden’s Executive Order went into effect, the U.S. Department of Education is seeking to solidify the substance of the EO by proposing new Title IX regulations. While an Executive Order could be rescinded by later administration, regulatory updates are specific, legally enforceable, and difficult to repeal. They must go through the same regulatory process to be rescinded as to be adopted. That means it’s important to push back on these regulations before they can be put in place.
The harms of male participation in female-only sports are documented and real. In November of this year, male swimmer Lia Thomas set new school, pool, and program records after competing on the women’s UPenn swim team. This led to widespread outrage among Thomas’ female peers, who have pointed out the absurdity and unfairness in allowing male athletes to dominate women’s sports.
The importance of single-sex spaces was further highlighted this year, when a male student sexually assaulted a girl in a girls’ bathroom in a Loudoun County school in Virginia. Under the schools’ ‘gender-identity’ based bathroom policy, his presence in the girls’ bathroom would be lawful.
Standing up for Title IX
Earlier this year, WoLF submitted our own proposed Petition for Rulemaking to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to “protect Title IX rights of women and girls.” WoLF also submitted testimony in hearings on Title IX.
We will let the public know how to give input to the Department of Education once rulemaking is officially proposed, but there are actions you can take now to protect women and girls under Title IX. In particular, we ask that you sign our Petition for Rulemaking to protect the sex-based rights of women and girls.
The petition put forth by WoLF asks the Department of Education to affirm that:
“Sex” under Title IX refers to biological sex.
"Gender identity” is an ideological belief held by a minority of people that one has an internal sense of themselves as male, female, both, neither, or other, which may be different than their sex.
Single-sex spaces and services, including sports, are provided by sex and not on the basis of a person’s belief about their sex.
True statements about biological sex, based in material reality, are protected by the first amendment.