Federal judges twice in three business days have halted changes to Title IX rules in 10 states.
Now, a North Carolina congresswoman has responded against action by her chamber’s Committee on Education and the Workforce.
“There is no respectable basis to undermine this groundbreaking new Title IX rule by the White House, which strengthens protections for students against sexual harassment and discrimination, supports pregnant and parentings students, and explicitly prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity,” U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., of the 12th Congressional District in Charlotte said on Monday. “I don’t need to be a 40-year educator to know that every student deserves a quality education, free of harassment and discrimination.”
Title IX is the 1972 landmark statute guaranteeing equal opportunities for men and women in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. An April fact sheet released by the U.S. Department of Education gave clarification to the proposed changes. Included, “The proposed rule would establish that policies violate Title IX when they categorically ban transgender students from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity just because of who they are.”
On Thursday, a Louisiana judge stopped implementation in Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho. On Monday, a Kentucky judge halted the Biden administration’s rewrite in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.
Also on Thursday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce – chaired by Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C. – passed a Congressional Review Act to nullify the Biden administration’s Title IX rule. It would, if passed, formally dispense “with the administration’s Title IX rule so that educational institutions can continue protecting the safety of women and girls and their access to educational opportunities.”
Riley Gaines, All-American swimmer at the University of Kentucky, has rallied groups and individuals to save women’s sports. She and Paula Scanlan, a swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, have been most visible in part because of the NCAA Championships in which Lia Thomas – teammate of Scanlan – had swam for the men’s team three years and then was on the women’s team.
The fallout has been immense, including the threat to women’s spaces, litigation against the NCAA, and states proposing and in some cases such as North Carolina enacting legislation.
“It’s so disappointing to see a female representative like Alma Adams does not stand with women,” Scanlan told The Center Square via email on Tuesday morning. “The rewrite is discriminatory to women and by allowing anyone that identifies as a woman to have access to female opportunities, the word woman becomes completely useless. Women deserve equal opportunity, and these new rules strip them away.”
Scanlan, Gaines and several others are with the Independent Women’s Forum as it rolls across the country on the Our Bodies, Our Sports “Take Back Title IX” Summer 2024 Bus Tour. It stops in Chapel Hill on Thursday.
Expected to appear will be Payton McNabb. She’s a graduate of Hiwassee Dam High in Murphy and was struck in the head by a volleyball on Sept. 1, 2022, ending her career. She said she was always aware of the possibility of injury, but the ball hit by a male – able to play because he said he was female – “was different.” She was rendered unconscious. She’s dealt with partial paralysis on her right side, cognitive issues and headaches.
Martina Navratilova, another of IWF’s ambassadors, says there’s no doubt men and boys have competitive advantages when it comes to playing against women and girls. And she says they should not.
In an email to The Center Square, McNabb said, “I totally agree with Representative Adams that every student deserves quality education and being free from harassment and discrimination. That being said, this Title IX rewrite does exactly the opposite of these things for women. Women are being discriminated against, women are being harassed in their locker rooms, and women are missing out on opportunities because of men coming into their spaces. I shouldn’t have to be a 19-year-old woman fighting for these basic truths that I, and every other woman, rightfully deserves.”
