Senate GOP blasts proposed Title IX changes as ‘unsafe and unfair’ to girls, schools

Senate Republicans have quizzed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona about the administration’s sought-after Title IX update, saying the proposed changes would make “schools and sports unsafe and unfair for women and girls.”

In a letter released Tuesday, the Republicans ripped the proposal to add sexual orientation and gender identity to Title IX, which bans sex discrimination in education, and efforts to target schools that bar male-born students who identify as female from girls’ sports, restrooms and locker rooms.

“Your interpretation of Title IX will undermine that law’s very purpose by making schools and sports unsafe and unfair for women and girls,” reads the July 28 letter to Mr. Cardona. “Equally disturbing is the likelihood that your department will weaponize Title IX to force a radical gender ideology in K-12 classrooms.”

The Senate Republicans cited 10 “troubling incidents” drawing national attention, including a Wisconsin school district that filed a Title IX complaint against three eighth-graders who failed to use another student’s preferred pronouns.

“Would it be a potential violation of Title IX for a student to refuse to call someone by pronouns that do not correspond to their biological sex?” asked the senators.

They raised the issue of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, signed in March, which prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-3.

“When Florida passed a law to protect K-3 students from inappropriate classroom instruction, you implied it might run afoul of Title IX,” the letter states. “Would it be ‘discriminatory’ or a potential violation of Title IX for a school, district, or state to limit a school employee’s ability to discuss ‘gender identity’ with young children?”

The senators also pointed to former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who they said “caused discomfort through his presence and behavior in the women’s locker room” after transitioning to female.

“Would it be discriminatory or a violation of Title IX to deny a boy who claimed a ‘gender identity’ that did not correspond with his biological sex to use a girl’s locker room?” the senators asked.

NEW: @SenTomCotton and several of his colleagues have written @SecCardona about the Biden Admin’s new edict that unlawfully adds “gender identity” as a protected class to Title IX.

The Left is actively working to destroy girls’ sports. But it gets worse.https://t.co/zvXC6D6cE6

— American Principles  (@approject) July 29, 2022

The GOP senators who sent the letter are Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Mike Lee of Utah and Marco Rubio of Florida.

The Education Department said the proposed regulations unveiled June 23, the 50th anniversary of Title IX, would “strengthen protections for LGBTQI+ students who face discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The rulemaking published in the Federal Register is open for public comment until Sept. 12.