AFN has reported the U.S. Department of Education plans to change Title IX federal law to please transgender activists who want to participate in high school and collegiate sports. President Richard Nixon signed the legislation into law in 1972, pleasing feminists who had fought for fairness in sports programs, but the Democratic Party now plans to twist the law to please male athletes who are pretending to be female athletes.
In a statement last year announcing a public comment period, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona ironically praised Title IX because it “paved the way for millions of girls and women” to enjoy equal opportunity in schools. It also helped combat sexual assaults and sexual violence in schools.
"As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of this landmark law,” he continued, “our proposed changes will allow us to continue that progress and ensure all our nation's students – no matter where they live, who they are, or whom they love – can learn, grow, and thrive in school.”
Not so fast, says a coalition of 26 state governors who signed their names to a letter dated May 12.
“Undeterred by plain English,” the pointed letter to Cardona states, “the Department invents new categories solely based on a student’s ‘gender identity’ —a term not used in Title IX. This overreaching interpretation exceeds the Department’s Congressionally granted authority.”
Elsewhere in the letter, the governors push back on the claim by Cardona and the Department of Education they are creating “clarity” over Title IX by protecting “gender identity” on school campuses. Since the American Psychology Association calls gender identity “internal,” and the American Academy of Pediatrics calls it “fluid,” the letter states, forcing a new definition of Title IX on schools, with a threat of retribution, “ensures chaos and confusion” which is just the opposite of “clarity.”
Among the list of governors, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves was among the first one who signed legislation protecting female-only sports in the state. That bill was signed in March 2021.
"It is outrageous and fundamentally unfair that the Biden administration would force hardworking female athletes, like my three daughters, to compete against biological males," Reeves said in a statement to AFN.
Last fall, when the public comment period closed, more than 235,000 comments were posted online during the 60-day window, according to an article by website Inside Higher Ed. The comments showed “deep division” over the gender identity issue, the story said, and also over due process rights for males accused of sexual misconduct on a campus. A policy enacted during the Trump administration demanded more legal rights to an accused student, much like a defendant in court, but that policy will likely go away under the Biden administration.
Meanwhile, while the public waits for the Biden administration to announce its Title IX policy, legal organizations such as Alliance Defending Freedom are in courtrooms fighting on behalf of female athletes.
"The vast majority of the American public agrees that this is unfair, to force female athletes to compete against biological males," ADF attorney Christiana Kiefer told AFN in a previous story. "So it's really important for concerned parents and athletes and coaches to use their voice to advocate for a return to fairness and safety."
Additional signatories on the letter are Governor Kay Ivey (AL); Governor Mike Dunleavy (AK); Governor Sarah Sanders (AR); Governor Ron DeSantis (FL); Governor Brian Kemp (GA); Governor Mike DeWine (OH); Governor Kim Reynolds (IA); Governor Brad Little (ID); Governor Eric Holcomb (IN); Governor Mike Parson (MO); Governor Greg Gianforte (MT); Governor Jim Pillen (NE); Governor Doug Burgum (ND); Governor Chris Sununu (NH); Governor Joe Lombardo (NV); Governor Kevin Stitt (OK); Governor Henry McMaster (SC); Governor Kristi Noem (SD); Governor Bill Lee (TN); Governor Greg Abbott (TX); Governor Spencer Cox (UT); Governor Glenn Youngkin (VA); Governor Jim Justice (WV); and Governor Mark Gordon (WY).
