GOP leaders lash out at the Biden Administration over transgender student protections.
Biden Continues to Postpone Title XI Update
GOP states are rallying together against the Biden administration, saying that he cannot keep putting the anti-trans legislation on hold simply because it is an election year.
Ongoing Struggles
Biden’s plan to prohibit an all-encompassing ban on all transgender student-athletes has been a long process.
Legal Actions Mounting
Currently, more than 24 Republican-led states have pursued legal action against federal regulations that seek to protect the rights of all transgender students across the nation.
Debate for States’ Rights
Instead, they argue that the states should be in charge of making these decisions on their own.
No Specific Mention of Transgender Athletes
Interestingly enough, the legislation they are targeting does not even mention transgender athletes directly.
Title IX
Title IX, originally passed in 1972 to protect women’s rights in school, also bans discrimination centered on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Shifting the Focus
To combat the power of Title IX, Republican states are shifting their focus to individual sports.
Appealing Directly to the Source
They have begun to appeal directly to parents and athletes, stating that all they want to do is make sure that everything is “fair”.
Students Becoming Pawns?
Some states have gone as far as having student athletes be the plaintiffs, and having students speak at news conferences about this issue.
Just Vague Enough
The main argument of these states is that the law is vague enough to then allow all transgender students to compete on the team of their gender identity rather than their biological sex.
ACLU Speaks Up
Attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Harper Sedin breaks it down for us, saying that simply put, the regulation “gives a pretty good sense that says, ‘You can’t have a rule that says if you’re transgender, you can’t participate.’”
Downright Puzzling
A senior director for the Human Rights Campaign, Cathryn Oakley said, “It is puzzling that these folks are talking about challenging a rule that does not do what they say is the thing they’re objecting to”.
Challenging Without Understanding
Oakley continued, “It’s pretty hard to see how they can expect to be taken seriously when they don’t seek to know what the content of the rule they’re challenging is”.
Advocates are Worried
LGBTQ+ advocates and transgender students all agree that the verbiage and the concept of these restrictions paint transgender athletes as a danger, or a risk.
Keeping the Doors Open
Participating in social activities and sports is also imperative for a young student to grow into themselves and flourish.
Not the Boogeyman, Just a Girl
Erik Cole-Johnson, the father of a transgender athlete, said, “My daughter’s not a boogeyman; my daughter’s not a threat,” continuing, “Transgender girls are not a threat.”
Election Year Woes
In order to appeal to the masses in the upcoming election, the Biden administration has put their policy that forbids schools from banning transgender athletes on hold.
Mounting Complaints
The Education Department released a statement saying that they have received over 150,000 comments on the policy already.
Desperate Push Towards Supreme Court
The continued lawsuits come at a critical time, as the GOP states are trying to have the Supreme Court make a decision about restrictions on transgender athletes as soon as possible.
Premature Conclusions
An attorney for Lambda Legal, Paul Casillo, states, “Many of these cases are premature and certainly just trying to undercut the basic notion that trans students are protected under Title IX and attempting to continue the exclusions that we have seen in states across the country with respect to athletics.”
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Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Evan El-Amin.
