Florida AG says Title IX change impacts girls’ sports

A lawsuit filed by Florida’s attorney general and three other states warns that the Biden administration’s Title IX rule change will force female athletes to compete against men despite the U.S. Department of Education’s claims that the rule does not apply to participation on athletic teams. 

The attorneys general of Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina filed an 84-page lawsuit in the federal Northern District of Alabama on Monday seeking to block the new Title IX regulations. Slated to go into effect in August, the regulations define sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and gender identity. 

The Biden administration’s changing of the 1972 civil rights law’s definition of “sex” is “illegal,” the attorneys general contend. They say the revisions will deprive women of access to opportunities and female-only spaces.

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“The rule conflicts with many of the state plaintiffs’ laws that govern public institutions of higher education and primary and secondary education, including laws involving harassment, bathrooms, sports, parental rights and more,” the lawsuit stated. “The rule thus impedes the state plaintiffs’ sovereign authority to enforce and administer their laws and creates pressure on the state plaintiffs to change their laws and practices.”

In an April 19 statement announcing the rule change, the Department of Education claimed that the measure will “fully effectuate Title IX’s promise that no person experiences sex discrimination in federally funded education.” The department also stated that it plans to issue a separate “final rule” to address sex-segregated sports in Title IX.

Schools and higher education institutions that receive federal funding are required to comply with Title IX.

While the department claims sex-separated sports are still permitted due to a regulation that allows it, the attorneys general state the department’s redefinition of sex discrimination under Title IX and applies to sex-segregated facilities despite a regulation allowing them. 

“It applies that new definition because it thinks the restroom regulation is invalid to the extent it requires all students to use the restroom that corresponds to their biological sex,” the lawsuit stated. “But the Department thinks the exact same thing about the regulation governing same-sex athletics. In other words, the Department claims to permit women’s sports, so long as women’s sports are open to men.”

“The rule thus requires — or will predictably coerce — schools to allow biological males to compete on athletic teams for women or girls, denying female students equal athletic opportunities, playing time, and fair competition,” the suit continued. “And it concededly affects sports by changing the rule for sex-separated locker rooms.” 

The Education Department told The Christian Post it could not comment on pending litigation. However, the department asserted that a “rigourous process” proceeded in creating the final Title IX rules intended to ensure that “no person experiences sex discrimination in federally funded education.”

“As a condition of receiving federal funds, all federally funded schools are obligated to comply with these final regulations and we look forward to working with school communities all across the country to ensure the Title IX guarantee of nondiscrimination in school is every student’s experience,” the department said in a statement.  

The attorneys general’s lawsuit notes that the new Title IX rule references “limited circumstances” where sex discrimination is allowed but does not include the regulation on sex-separate bathrooms and locker rooms. According to the suit, this means women may have to share a locker room with men who identify as female or live with those men in dorm rooms. 

“Biden’s new Title IX rules shred protections for women — that so many fought for over decades,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a Monday statement.

“The idea that young girls can now legally be forced to undress in the same room with males in what is supposed to be a safe space like a locker room, that a young woman could be randomly assigned a roommate that is a biological male with little to no say over the matter, or that biological men would be eligible for women’s scholarships is ludicrous,” the attorney general continued. “To ensure safety and fairness, Florida will aggressively fight Biden who refuses to think through the real-world consequences before overhauling regulations.”

Earlier this week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s Title IX rules. The attorneys general of Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho filed a separate lawsuit against the expansion of the Title IX rule.

“Texas will not allow Joe Biden to rewrite Title IX at whim, destroying legal protections for women in furtherance of his radical obsession with gender ideology,” Attorney General Paxton said in the Monday statement. “This attempt to subvert federal law is plainly illegal, undemocratic, and divorced from reality. Texas will always take the lead to oppose Biden’s extremist, destructive policies that put women at risk.”