Oklahoma schools boss ordered them to ‘completely ignore’ Joe Biden’s new rules promoting children’s LGBTQ rights, as more states join backlash against title overhaul IX of the president.
The rewrite prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and leaves schools vulnerable to lawsuits if they bar trans students from locker rooms, restrooms or girls’ dorms.
Florida on Monday became the tenth state to sue the administration after Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters denounced “the most devastating attack on women’s rights in our nation’s history.”
“In Oklahoma, we will not bow to Biden and his group’s insane drive to eradicate women’s rights and put women in harm’s way,” he warned.
“That’s why I’ve asked every superintendent in my state to completely ignore Biden’s new Title IX changes that allow men to roam women’s locker rooms, dormitories and bathrooms – places where women should feel safe.”
President Joe Biden has made LGBTQ rights a cornerstone of his administration and insisted that Title IX reforms would apply to all schools that receive federal money.
But Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters accused him of “sacrificing women’s rights in a sad attempt to appeal to the most radical wing of your party.”
The Department of Education says its new 1,600-page regulation will “ensure that no one experiences sex discrimination in federally funded education.”
But the legislation has sparked a storm of protest from states that warn it puts LGBTQ rights ahead of the safety of women and children, and conflicts with a series of recent state laws aimed at rolling back rights. gender-based in classrooms.
Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana launched a lawsuit Monday, condemning the new regulations as a “naked attempt to force our schools to mold our children according to the current federal government’s preferred image of how a child should think, act and speak’.
Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have launched suit against these “onerous” regulations, complaining that they would increase costs and burdens on states.
And Texas has filed its own lawsuit against “respect for radical gender ideology.”
“I am ordering the Texas Education Agency to ignore your illegal diktat,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement.
“Your rewrite of Title IX not only exceeds your constitutional authority, but it also tramples laws I signed to protect the integrity of women’s sports by prohibiting men from competing against female athletes.”
Title IX law was originally introduced to prohibit discrimination based on sex as part of the landmark Education Amendments of 1972.
Walters said the state would foot the bills for any school sued for ignoring new Title IX rules on transgender students.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt banned transgender girls and women from competing on girls’ sports teams in his state in 2022, and more than a dozen states have followed suit.
The Obama administration was the first to extend protections to transgender students, although gender identity guidelines were withdrawn under Donald Trump.
The new reforms follow two executive orders from President Biden in 2021, but they remain unclear about trans students’ rights to participate in girls’ sports.
“The bottom line is this,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted Tuesday.
“Injecting men into women’s bathrooms and locker rooms is not good for women. Injecting boys into women’s sports is not good for girls. It’s bad policy, but it’s also not constitutional.
“They are twisting the law to try to impose an ideological agenda on the rest of the country.
“And I made it very clear in Florida: We do not consent to this, we will not comply with this and we will fight against this.” So you can take that to the bank.
The latest Title IX language describes trans students as “harassment,” and Walters warned that it puts the school at risk if it doesn’t use a student’s preferred pronouns.
“It is time for every head of state to stand up and say enough about this absurd charade that erases women and puts their security at risk,” he said.
“While these rule changes are scheduled to take effect on August 1, I hope and expect that there will be a preliminary injunction and possibly a permanent injunction that would delay the implementation of these rules until that the rule be decided by a federal court, which could be an indefinite period.
But the Department of Education told the Washington Examiner that no school will be allowed to ignore the rules if it receives federal money.
“The Department developed the final Title IX regulations following a rigorous process intended to give full effect to Title IX’s statutory guarantee that no person experiences sex discrimination in federally funded education” , said a spokesperson.
“As a condition of receiving federal funds, all federally funded schools are required to comply with these final regulations and we look forward to working with school communities across the country to ensure that the guarantee of non-discrimination to Title IX school is every student’s experience.
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