The Education Department announced Monday it has formally rescinded the Biden-era Title IX interpretation that gave sex-based discrimination protections to students on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Schools now must go back to the Title IX code as held under the previous Trump administration in 2020, which the department says will protect women’s sports.
“Thanks to today’s action, the published Title IX regulations faithfully reflect court orders and Congressional intent — reducing confusion for parents, students, and educational institutions. We will continue to relentlessly champion equal opportunity for all Americans and hold accountable any school or college that violates the rights, privacy, or athletic opportunities of our women and girls,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said.
The Biden-era Title IX rule was already struck down in the court system after challenges from Republican states.
And the administration has pursued its own definition since President Trump returned to office, making deals with schools such as the University of Pennsylvania to take transgender athletes out of their women’s programs.
Opponents of the move say it will harm transgender athletes and weaken protections for sexual assault victims.
“Sexual harassment and assault continue to be pervasive in schools and, to the fullest extent possible, we should be working to enforce the laws that protect student survivors of sexual violence. Yet, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and the Trump administration have decided to ignore what survivors need, instead weaponizing Title IX to attack trans students,” said Shiwali Patel, senior director of education justice at the National Women’s Law Center.
I remember someone was talking about some states and their anti-trans bills and how they would be just as accurate to call them the anti-Susie (or whatever their name was) Bill, since in some cases, there was like one known instance of this “issue” causing this stupid moral panic - in the entire fucking state.
I swear, the party that likes to talk about everyone else being a snowflake is constantly finding non-issues and things that are barely even a thing to get all worked up about. These are the same exact types that had fainting spells in the 80s over things like heavy metal lyrics and Dungeons and Dragons and supposed satanic cults and lots of other fantastical nonsense. In the 90s, especially after Columbine, they clutched their pearls over outsider kids wearing trenchcoats, playing videogames and listening to Marilyn Manson.
And now they are basically shaping an entire nation-state around women’s sports, FFS [1]. Keep in mind that these are the same group that sneer at things like the WNBA and women’s soccer, and that no one watches women’s sports.
Now they are calling in the fainting couches over something they mocked and derided (and probably still do).
[1] I say that because some of the voters that vote R claim it’s their #1 issue. I still am just agog at this notion. Imagine being so privileged that you have zero skin in the game for trans, and it’s your #1 issue? How the fuck is that even a thing?