On May 3rd, the Carolina Journal published the following op-ed by Tami Fitzgerald, NC Values Executive Director, entitled “Title IX was created to protect women. Biden’s radical change does the opposite”:
The Biden administration has turned on its head a 52-year-old civil rights law intended to advance equal opportunities for women and girls in education and sports. With the issuance of its 1,561-page-administrative rule on Title IX, the Biden administration has weaponized Title IX against women, the very injustice it was intended to right.
Passed in 1972, Title IX simply says that schools receiving any type of federal financial assistance cannot discriminate against individuals based on sex. Title IX opened greater opportunities to women and girls in academics and athletics, and its impact of allowing women to succeed in those arenas cannot be overstated. However, the Biden administration’s re-interpretation of the law equates “sex” with “gender identity” and “sexual orientation,” which subverts the very purpose of Title IX — to level the playing field between boys and girls.
In 2020, the US Supreme Court handed down its decision in Bostock v. Clayton, re-interpreting “sex” to include “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” when it comes to Title VII and employment law. Even though the majority decision stated the new interpretation only applied to hiring and firing practices under Title VII, activists and courts have sought to apply the new definition of “sex” to academics and athletics under Title IX. Finally, Biden has done what Congress and the Supreme Court have not — substitute “gender identity” for “sex” under Title IX.
The new Biden orthodoxy will allow biological males to enter women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, gym classes, sports teams, hotel rooms (on overnight field trips), classrooms for sex education, campus housing, and sex-specific sororities and clubs.
The new orthodoxy has also swapped “sexual harassment” for “sex-based harassment” which includes sex-based separation and different treatment. This is code for requiring that biological males posing as girls must be treated like girls, referred to by their chosen female name and pronouns, and included with the girls instead of the boys. This makes it much easier to make a claim for harassment, lowers the standard for a “hostile environment,” and covers incidents that occur outside the educational program or the US.
Of particular concern is the lack of protection for teachers and students with respect to First Amendment rights to free speech and religious expression. Speaking out against gender ideology or refusing to use preferred names/pronouns in an education program receiving federal funds could subject a person to investigation and retribution.
The Biden Title IX rule will turn employees into spies to force compliance. School employees are now required to report “sex-based harassment” anytime they have a “reasonable suspicion” that sex-based discrimination has taken place. The regulations will put additional burdens on Title IX compliance officers to seek and find violators, not just respond to complaints. They MUST investigate all complaints if the evidence “may reasonably” amount to a violation rather than just those based on substantial evidence. This change will certainly result in increased reports of discrimination as well as unjust accusations.
Parents and local school boards will have less control over what is taught in school, particularly in the area of “gender ideology” and “sexual orientation.” Schools will be prohibited from denying or limiting participation consistent with a student’s perceived gender identity. The rule specifically states that to do so amounts to “more than de minimis harm.”
Although the new regulation states it does not apply to sports, it most certainly will be used as authority for allowing biological males posing as females to compete in women’s sports. The new rule destroys single-sex participation and subjects girls to an unfair playing field where injury from male players is a constant threat.
There are major concerns with the lack of due process allowed for someone accused of “sex-based discrimination” under Title IX after this drastic re-write. Complaints no longer need to be in writing and signed by the accused. Informal investigations are now allowed. The accuser can remain anonymous. There is no requirement for a public hearing affording the accused the right to an attorney, the right to present and cross-examine witnesses, etc. The Title IX compliance officer can be investigator, judge, and jury in the proceeding.
The bottom line is that Biden’s Title IX rule commands us all to participate in a lie. A person’s sex is an immutable characteristic encoded in every cell of his or her body by DNA. Nothing can change that fact. Just ask Prisha Mosely, a young woman who medically transitioned in North Carolina and testified last year at the General Assembly in favor of outlawing gender surgery and hormone therapy for minors. She lived the terror of undergoing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and a double mastectomy thrust upon her by unethical doctors and psychotherapists who weren’t interested in treating her underlying mental disorders. Now, Biden’s rule makes it easier for children and young adults to be socially transitioned at school. Biden is no better than those greedy medical experimentalists.
The Biden re-interpretation of Title IX is so egregious and dangerous that a growing list of states has announced they will not comply. Attorneys general in 15 states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Montana, and Idaho, have filed suit against the new regulations. Gov. Ron DeSantis has instructed Florida schools not to comply and so have state superintendents of public instruction in Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Louisiana.
It is time for North Carolina to follow other states by saying “NO” to Biden’s insane Title IX rule that violates freedom of speech, freedom of religion, due process, science, and truth. Enough is enough. Let’s demand that Title IX continue to be used for its real purpose — protecting women and girls.
Tami Fitzgerald is the executive director of NC Values.
