EXCLUSIVE: More than two dozen organizations are urging the Biden administration to “abandon plans” to allow biological males to compete in women’s sports and use the same locker rooms.
In 2022, Biden’s Education Department proposed regulations on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to expand the meaning of sex discrimination to include “gender identity.” Another round of regulations will be released by the department this spring that will specifically address Title IX’s application to transgender athletes participating in women’s sports.
But in a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona Tuesday organized by the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies, a diverse coalition of lawyers, subject-matter experts, parents, civil rights groups and former education officials said the Biden administration’s additional anticipated regulations will “unfairly” penalize female athletes.
“The Department does not have the legal authority to issue regulations that would subvert rather than fulfill the requirements of Title IX by permitting or requiring biological males who identify as females to compete in sex-separated women’s sports and to use the intimate facilities and shared spaces of female students … we anticipate that the coming rulemaking on athletics will similarly conflate gender identity with Title IX’s sex-based protections and degrade those very protections,” the groups wrote in their letter.
They argue that Title IX, which “is limited to” the prohibition of sex-based discrimination involving “any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance,” does not include gender identity.
The letter was signed by the Heritage Foundation, Heritage Action for America, Ethics and Public Policy Center, SAVE, Independent Women’s Law Center, Child and Parental Rights Campaign, Texas Eagle Forum, Family Policy Alliance, No Left Turn in Education, Southeastern Legal Foundation, American Civil Rights Project, Parents Defending Education and others.
“The Department’s view that Title IX extends to gender identity is an extremist position not supported by the purpose, text, structure or legislative history of Title IX,” said Bob Eitel, president of the Defense of Freedom Institute. “More importantly, if the administration proceeds with its radical rewrite of Title IX, it will result in severe harm to biological women and girls and cause them to lose positions on athletic teams, awards, scholarships and prizes, as well as risk bodily harm in certain sports.”
Cardona has said that he supports allowing biological male transgender people to compete in women’s sports. He said during his confirmation hearing that it is “critically important” that educators and school systems “respect the rights of all students, including students who are transgender” and that all students should be able to participate in activities.
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The Biden administrations’ actions have come under scrutiny by current and former female athletes who feel they are at a disadvantage when competing against biological males.
Riley Gaines, an NCAA swimmer and All-American athlete, bashed President Joe Biden’s advocacy of “gender ideology propaganda” in an interview with Fox News Digital this month.
Gaines was forced to compete against biological male Lia Thomas in a swimming competition in which the two tied for first place, a match she outspokenly believes was unfair due to biological differences.
“I am truthfully intrigued as to how he will address the state of our nation. What is the state of our nation? What’s the condition of it?” Gaines said ahead of Biden’s State of the Union address, raising concerns that the administration is pushing for more female-identifying men to compete in women’s sports across the country.