By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE
An upcoming Biden administration rule change will tie billions of dollars in federal education funding to an array of LGBT policies, forcing school districts and universities to implement controversial rules on issues like transgender athletes in order to receive federal funding.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this month it will change how it interprets Title IX prohibitions on discrimination based on sex “to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
That change means that schools that accept any kind of funding, including students receiving FAFSA or Pell grants or students who receive federally subsidized school lunch funding, will be subject to the new Title IX LGBT interpretation.
“As a result, state and local agencies, program operators and sponsors that receive funds from FNS must investigate allegations of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation,” USDA said in a statement. “Those organizations must also update their non-discrimination policies and signage to include prohibitions against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.”
This means that schools around the country will be forced to comply with a range of pro-transgender policies in things like sports, housing, locker rooms and bathrooms if they want to continue receiving federal funds. The effort began when President Joe Biden issued an executive order almost immediately upon taking office.
Since then, the administration has been publicly advocating for these policies, but the expected formally published rule change later this year would codify that policy.
“Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports,” the White House said when that order was issued in January of last year.
Sarah Perry, a legal expert at the Heritage Foundation, said the rule change would also remove recently added due process protections for students accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault, which could be particularly important if misgendering individuals is redefined to be included in the harassment category.
Not using the preferred pronoun of an individual could also land schools and universities in legal trouble under the Title IX changes.
“A third [change] that is unspoken and won’t appear in the new rule but will have implications, it will be essentially a muzzling of free speech for individuals who for example don’t toe the party line on gender identity and will be forced … to use an individual’s preferred pronouns or be faced potentially with Title IX sex discrimination charges,” Perry said. “So it will not only require the adherence to these beliefs. It will force speech. It will compel speech in violation of the First Amendment, and we have yet to even examine fully the parameters of how that is going to play out in the court room…”
Some schools are allowed to use a religious exemption to some rules like the kind laid out by the administration, but experts say it remains unclear whether the Biden administration will honor those exemptions or challenge them, which would likely lead to a legal battle.
The Biden administration said in its announcement this is a push toward “equity and fairness.”
“USDA is committed to administering all its programs with equity and fairness, and serving those in need with the highest dignity,” Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said. “A key step in advancing these principles is rooting out discrimination in any form – including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Other critics, though, argue that girls will be victims of this policy change when schools are required to allow trans girls to use facilities designated for women, such as bathrooms, locker rooms and dorm rooms, saying it violates their privacy and opens them up to sexual assault.
They also argue it will hurt female athletes and take away their athletic opportunities. Several trans women have quickly risen to dominance in their respective sports after not having the same success when competing against men.
“This will not only have a significant impact on privacy, safety and security of women and girls but also on the equity and fairness of women to be able to participate in scholastic athletics whether at the K-12 or at the collegiate level,” Perry said, adding that these rule interpretation changes would “change the face of American education if it is approved and published, and that is not an overstatement.”
The athletics issue came to a head earlier this year when trans athlete Lia Thomas, who was born a male, easily beat Olympic silver medalists Emma Weyant and Erica Sullivan in the NCAA 500-yard freestyle championship in March.
Opponents to the upcoming rule change point out these kinds of losses as examples of unfairness and say they take scholarship opportunities away from women and give them to recently transitioned athletes.
“Lia has clear male athletic advantages – advantages that testosterone suppression cannot erase and that female athletes can’t possibly attain, no matter how hard they train,” said Jennifer Braceras, director of Independent Women’s Law Center. “This isn’t fair, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association knows it.”
Every time “they” amaze me with their actions I imagine they can’t go further. Then they do.
Heil Hitler!!!
Gosh, I am thinking that these new “rules” might result in a couple of lawsuits. Like maybe about a hundred thousand lawsuits. Is this really what the Left wants to go to war about?
JMARK, it’s targeted at women, ( girls) but it’s real purpose is to disrupt and humiliate society. It forces individuals to agree to a lie. Once you agree to the lie your sense of probity is lost and you become a liar too. Liars are generally morally weak and are easily mallable .
Biden and his handlers must stop trying to play God. no matter how many rules and orders they issue they cannot change the gender of anyone….but they can mix up the minds of a lot of unsettled people…
Charlie, I don’t think that it is God whom Usurper PotatoHead and his illegal cabal are trying to play, it’s more like ‘the other guy’.
Maybe it’s time for states to start blocking all funding to the federal government? If enough states get together and prevent all tax revenue from going to the federal government, crap will fly.
BS! I believe this is illegal! States should make their own standards for schools!
Transgenders can have their own bathroom! Simple! And “hey you” can be anybody!
Get your kids out of public school.
I am a canine-sexual. I demand that you refer to me as, “boy” as in, “come here, boy”. “Sit, boy”. “roll over, boy”. If you don’t, I will sue you and you will lose funding. Do you think China, who clearly owns Biden, may be wanting to purposely sew discord in our society to divide us over the most inane farcical BS so we start fighting each other? I don’t know of any other possible reason for this garbage. No sane person believes this stuff is important.
That is discrimination against American taxpayer citizens. Where is the ACLU?
This is what your taxes are good for, bribery or blackmail.
Hell in a handbasket. that’s where were going with all this bullshit of people getting offended. Let boys be boys and girls be girls. it’s their choice. not for the god damn politicians to force it down our throats. what about “our” opinions of those in our 60’s who can do nothing but sit and watch our country turn into a bunch of wasted whiners and everybody is pardon the phrase, “getting their panties into a knot”…..
Well, we only have 2 years. 5 months and 7 days to go through this nightmare and hit the reset button for the next president in 2024. What a nightmare.
A lot of permanent damage will be done by then.
And I was worried that I had exhausted my supply of polite responses… 1. abolish public education. 2. stop paying taxes. Do the Chinese or the Russians have a problem with the feds trying to force the destruction of or society? I think not. Nor do I think we should imitate the commies or the Muslims, who simply kill homosexuals – but pushing this stuff on kids or anyone else is EVIL. Who is going to pay for the fallout of all this social experimentation? You guessed it.. we are.
If 70 million people withheld their funds, children, and support of all kinds from any school that complies in order to receive federal funding, then maybe the pushback would force a pullback. Worth a shot anyhow.
We now have a Supreme Court that is more likely than ever to rule this edict to be unconstitutional. I’m sure we can’t count on our gutless governor to bring the case but hopefully Texas or Florida will.
This is a slow and steady march by the left to push Christians out of society. Their politics are their belief system, and they/them won’t rest until God-fearing folks are no longer part of the equation. Once the gun-grab happens, it’s all over.
I partly disagree.
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To the leftist, the number one relationship all people must have is with the all powerful State. All other relationships are secondary, and frankly should be minimized or destroyed in their entirety. Christianity is just one of the victims of this attitude.
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Why do you think there is such a push for LGBTQWERTYWHATEVER+? That destroys interpersonal romantic relationships. It destroys the institution of marriage. (That’s why the push for gay marriage a few years back. A stepping stone to its destruction.) Grade school teachers are actively undermining the authority of parents, and the DOJ is jumping into the fray by labeling parents ‘terrorists.’
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It is why China instituted their social credit system. Want to be able to travel, want to get a house, or a car? Prove you are loyal to the State first and foremost. And, get double social credit points for turning in friends and family who are committing “wrongthink.”
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The continued/perpetual call for masking everywhere is just another aspect of it. Remove the facial expressions, and you diminish the interpersonal relationship.
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In a generation or two, if you are in a heterosexual marriage you will be the weirdo. If you choose to remain the sex/gender “assigned” at birth, you are now the freak. And, instead of relying on family, friends, and spouses for support, you will turn to the all powerful State.
‘https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/this-never-happens?s=r
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
Put a pervert in charge, and you get perversity
This POTUS lies, it is an implanted Chinese puppet, is trying to kill oil and gas, strangling states with these stupid executive orders, pushing this LGBTQ agenda (because obviously someone behind his presidency is calling for it. Obama?)
His “REGIME” is not an administration.
He is anti American,
Anti second Amendment and freedom of speech.
How much more, are the American people going to take before we DEMAND HIS REMOVAL from office??
He is no president. He is the puppet for the freaks of the left and LGBTQ. Impeach now. We will all continue to suffer if we don’t stand and do something.
Don’t take the money. Then defund USDA. Don’t see any purpose for it anyway. Farmers know how to farm. Dump USDA on the ash heap of history along with Dept of Education/Energy, NIH, ATF, etc.
Hopefully they can keep teachers out of the showers.
The bad part is that this is all happening on our watch. No one to blame but us.
“Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports,”
That is the biggest bunch of crap. Children can absolutely use the bathroom, locker room, and take part in sports. They just have to use the one they biologically belong in, unless it’s co-ed. That isn’t hard to do. What’s hard is the mental illness being taught as normal by these deranged teachers and parents.
Biden and his admin claim to he followers of God, but that is a big lie too.
The following statements are considered wrong in Biden’s America.
Men have a penis.
Women have a vagina.
FJB.
If you are truly transgender, and you are living your life as the opposite sex, no one would notice that you are using the bathroom that does not match your “plumbing.”
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A biological male really, really, REALLY, wants to be a woman, so what does he do? He dresses and acts like a woman. If this individual were to enter the woman’s toilet at the grocery store, the average person (if they even noticed) might think “that woman looks a bit manish.” (Flip it around for the other situation.) That transwoman (formerly a man) can go to the stall, take a seat, do their bit of business, and wash up and leave without making any kind of a fuss about it. What is the worst thing that will happen? The woman at the next sink will think ‘she’ needs a shave?
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But… no. Instead of just letting the trans folks live their lives in peace, this administration (and the Muni Assembly is just as bad) have to destroy the societal norms. They have to insist that all it takes is a man to claim they are female, and they must be treated as female 100%, without question, and in all situations.
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Oh, and biological females that want to get a gun to defend themselves will not be allowed to either. A 250 pound “female” will be able to do whatever they want to to the rest of the women in the battered women’s shelter because the Muni Assembly is too afraid they might be accused of bigotry.
Disgusting move by the feds. Again. Vote people, vote.
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