By Christiana Paradis
When the Title IX Education Amendments of 1972 were passed, few, if any, could have predicted the significant amount of legislation and guidance that would emerge across the span of the next 50 years.
As societal expectations of gender inclusion have evolved, so has the law. The first Title IX battleground came early, in the form of gender equity compliance in Aathletics. Significant guidance between 1972 – 1990 emerged dictating the ways in which athletics programs needed to evolve to be more inclusive of all players. The next Title IX battleground emerged in the mid-2000s, when we saw the rise of advocacy across the country as college students declared that Title IX protections should have applied to victims of sex-based harm such as sexual violence, domestic violence and stalking. The Obama Administration agreed. As a result, the last 12 years of Title IX regulations have become highly political, with each administration changing the scope and processes regarding how educational institutions are expected to respond to sexual harassment. While this area of focus may continue to stay highly contested, a new battleground emerges.
Under the Trump administration all protections to address LGBTQ+ harassment under Title IX were stripped (Inside Higher Ed, 2017). The Biden administration countered, working quickly to put in place an executive order to re-establish these protections when he took office (The White House, 2021). However, will these protections remain in place? While many believe the new Title IX regulations set to be released in May 2023 will codify protections for LGBTQ+ students, it unfortunately is not so clear cut.
As of January 19th, 2023, over 120 anti-LGBTQ+ laws have been introduced in states across the nation since January 1st (ACLU, 2023). Furthermore, 20 states recently sued the Biden administration over the application of Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students and won the right to temporarily not enforce the provision (New York Times, 2022).
Where does this leave LGBTQ+ folx individuals and particularly trans and non-binary folxpeople? In a precarious space. Federally, protections are in place, but many states are moving to pass laws that conflict with the federal protections. While families harmed by these policies and national law firms such as the ACLU continue to sue state governments over the implementation of these laws, all of this takes time. Additionally, many judges are deferring and/or are throwing out these cases on technicalities, afraid to weigh in on such contentious topics.
What does this mean for us as a campus? We will continue to follow the regulations of federal and state law, which currently apply Title IX protections to LGBTQ+ students, but we need to be ready for the years of whiplash we may experience with respect to policy as a state and a nation. Together, it is imperative to challenge inequity whether it is in the classroom, on the field, in a boardroom, or on the ballot.
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