WoLF Speaks at Title IX Hearing on “Gender Identity”
On Monday Morning, WoLF Legal Director Lauren Adams spoke at a hearing hosted by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on Title IX.
The department described the hearing as “an important step toward carrying out the Department’s responsibilities under Executive Order 14021 on Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free from Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, 86 Fed. Reg. 13803 (March 11, 2021), and Executive Order 13988 on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation, 86 Fed. Reg. 7023 (Jan. 25, 2021).”
Written comments can be submitted to the Department of Education before 5 pm Eastern on Friday, June 11 2021 via email to: T9PublicHearing@ed.gov. Your email must include the subject line “Written Comment: Title IX Public Hearing (topic of the comment).” The email may include the name(s), occupation, city and state, organization/affiliation (if any), and email address of the person(s) submitting the written comment, along with the comment. Those wishing to maintain their privacy can submit a comment without including personally identifying information.
Comment from Lauren Adams, Wolf Legal Director
Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to comment. My name is Lauren Adams, and I am the Legal Director of Women’s Liberation Front, or “WoLF,” a non-partisan radical feminist organization with members across the country. I am a lifelong progressive who believes in equal rights for all, and this is why today I am here to urge support for single-sex sports for women and girls, and constitutional protections for freedom of speech and belief.
Thanks to the groundbreaking passage of Title IX, women have prospered in the education system, including through increased participation in competitive athletics. Today, however, the Department of Education is considering policy changes that threaten to roll back these gains by re-interpreting Title IX to prohibit single-sex sports teams.
No one should face discrimination in publicly-funded education due to their sexual orientation or non-conformity to sex-stereotypes. But the notion of “gender-identity,” on the other hand, denies the reality of differences when they do exist between the sexes, almost universally to the disadvantage of women and girls. It is no more appropriate to separate teams by personal identity than it is to separate teams by sexual orientation or race.
When female athletes are forced to compete in de facto coed teams, they are deprived of titles, records, medals, scholarships, and opportunities to win, or participate, fairly and safely. In one example, two male high school track runners in Connecticut blew away female competitors at the state track championship and smashed 15 records previously held by female competitors.
We firmly believe in equality and dignity for all. I encourage you to remember that all students are welcome to use sex-specific programs and spaces with their same-sex peers, and that this has not changed. We can not allow the rights of women and girls to be dictated by threats, nor can we allow women and girls to be silenced by threats of discipline, suspension, or even expulsion for speaking the truth or for saying no.
I urge the Office of Civil Rights to ensure the legacy of Title IX by continuing to enforce the law on the basis of sex, and to affirm that the first amendment protects our right to discuss issues of public concern, including matters that affect single-sex spaces and sports. Otherwise, we risk turning the clock back on 50 years of educational advancements for women and girls.
Thank you for this opportunity to comment.
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