Joe Biden’s Department of Education has revamped Federal Title IX rules to eliminate much of Donald Trump’s additions and strengthen protections for LGBTQ students, but took a pass on including new language to address the issue of states banning transgender athletes.
Biden’s new rules define sex discrimination as discrimination based on gender identity as well as sexual proclivities. The rules state that schools cannot separate people based on sex. The rules do not explicitly say that boys must be let into girls bathrooms and changing rooms, but the rules is easily interpreted that way, Fox News reported.
The rules also state that students who claim they face discrimination at the hands of school officials are entitled to a response from their school district and may also seek help addressing the issue from the federal government.
Biden also removed some of the rules the Trump administration added to allow due process procedures for those accused of sexual assault, meaning he has eliminated the right of innocent until proven guilty in schools.
With these changes, colleges will no longer be required to hold hearings where the accused may cross-examine those claiming to be victims. Instead, schools will be permitted to interviews the accused and accusers separately and each side will be supplied with transcripts and recordings of those interviews.
One hot button issue was not addressed in the new rules. Biden did not directly mention the transgender athlete bans and restrictions being signed into law in nearly half the states to date. There are no new provisions specifically stating that male-born students who claim to be girls must be allowed to play on girls teams.
Still, the rules that were changed to add “gender identity” could be used to cover that issue.
Advocates who want to protect women’s sports from the incursions of transgender “women” see the new rules as tearing down women’s sports.
“The president and his administration can’t act like they care about women or our opportunities and then go and wipe out women’s protections under the country’s landmark sex equality law,” said former NCAA champion swimmer Riley Gaines on her Gaines for Girls podcast.
“Title IX was passed over fifty years ago to end unjust discrimination in education, including athletics,” Gaines continued. “I experienced this law [being] undermined when female athletes like myself were told to keep quiet when a male swimmer took home a title in the women’s division and deprived female athletes of awards, honors, and the opportunity to compete.”
“With its new Title IX rewrite, the Biden administration is unilaterally erasing fifty years of equal opportunity law for women,” Gaines exclaimed.
The Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) is also suing the Biden administration over the changes, saying, “Title IX was designed to give women equal opportunities in academic settings. It forbids discrimination on the basis of ‘sex,’ which it affirms throughout the statute is binary and biological.”
“The unlawful Omnibus Regulation re-imagines Title IX to permit the invasion of women’s spaces and the reduction of women’s rights in the name of elevating protections for ‘gender identity,’ which is contrary to the text and purpose of Title IX. Because this is illegal, we plan to sue,” the group added.
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