The new law allows any male claiming to identify as a female complete access to girls' and women's bathrooms and locker rooms and participation on girls' sports teams and other organizations.
Dr. Cade Brumley, superintendent of education in Louisiana, says the announced rewrite of Title IX, the landmark women's rights federal legislation of 1972, shows the Biden administration's commitment to keeping gender initiatives first, even ahead of the nation's poor and disadvantaged children.
He told Washington Watch Thursday that in his continued dialogue with the U.S. Department of Education for nearly two years, he has worked to expose the officials' intent to punish local school districts that do not comply with mandates. Their effort to force incorrect pronoun usage and the abolishment of private spaces for girls – bathrooms, locker rooms, and the like – has been no secret, but this latest development is a new low.
The threat
The hammer the government will swing is school districts' federal funding.
Brumley told show host Tony Perkins he has asked the Department if they would seriously consider withholding federal funds that feed some of the poorest, most vulnerable students their breakfasts and lunches, and the response has been resounding.
“Unfortunately, all of that is in play right now," he relayed. "That is what they are dangling over the heads of all the states."
Nevertheless, Brumley has instructed Louisiana schools to not implement the Title IX changes. Schools in Oklahoma, Florida, and South Carolina have also been instructed to not comply at this time.
Letters to the local districts in these states can be found in this X post from Moms for Liberty.
"Biden's rewrite of Title IX is one of the most illegal and radical moves we have ever seen from the federal government," Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters wrote on X Thursday. "Oklahoma will not sit idly by while radicals trample on the Constitution and take away women's rights. We are taking swift and aggressive action against Biden in his war on women."
Brumley confirmed to Perkins that Louisiana is also preparing a legal challenge to the Title IX revisions. It is unclear how many other states are likewise gearing up for lawsuits.
Due process concerns
Another issue with the new Title IX is that those accused of committing sex crimes on a campus no longer have the right to an open hearing where testimony and evidence are presented. Their lawyers also no longer have the right to cross-examine witnesses, including the accuser.
"When administrators investigate the most serious kinds of campus misconduct, colleges should use the time-tested tools that make finding the truth more likely," contends the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a legal nonprofit. "The new regulations no longer require them to do so."
"Rather than playing political ping-pong with student rights, the Department of Education should recognize that removing procedural protections for students is the exact opposite of fairness," FIRE adds.
That is one reason why Brumley does not expect Louisiana schools to resist his "do not implement" order.
"In the state of Louisiana, they're relieved to see the guidance that we've provided," the superintendent reports. "Many of them obviously are heading off into summer break very soon, and they were curious about how they were going to respond to this before the beginning of next school year."
He believes schools will give the Louisiana Department of Education the opportunity to go through the Biden administration's 1,500-plus page document and advise them accordingly.
