‘Take Back Title IX’ tour makes stop in Grand Rapids
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy Devos made a stop in Grand Rapids on Monday afternoon as part of a nationwide ‘Take Back Title IX’ bus tour.
The Biden administration finalized new Title IX rules in April. The new provisions would dismantle ones created by DeVos.
“Title IX was an important part of the work I did while serving in Washington,” DeVos said during a news conference at Ah-Nab-Awen Park on Monday. “The truth is, it’s been an important part of my whole life.”
Title IX, created in 1972, aims to protect students from sex-based discrimination in any school or educational program that gets federal funding. The revised regulations issued by the Education Department, which fulfilled a campaign pledge by President Joe Biden, would change who’s protected and under which circumstances. One of the biggest changes would include expanded protections for LGBTQ+ students by banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
“There should be no question about what the law means, but the Biden regulation would again put women in a position to be discriminated against in favor of biological men. This cannot be allowed,” DeVos said.
A growing number of GOP-led states are fighting the Biden administration’s new regulations. Attorneys general in more than 20 states have filed challenges to block them from taking effect on Aug. 1 and on Monday, a federal judge in Kentucky temporarily blocked the new Title IX rules in six additional states. The Education Department said it would “continue to fight for every student” as it reviews the ruling.
Though equal rights advocates have praised the Biden administration’s changes, others believe they would allow transgender girls to play girls’ athletics. Two former athletes spoke about how that impacted their athletic careers.
“I was forced to compete against two biological males in short sprint events throughout all four years of high school,” Selina Soule, former elite track and field athlete, said.
“I said back in 2018 that we will see the end of women’s sports if we do not put an end to this unfairness now. People in my state said that it was just an isolated incident and as a result of their inaction, we’ve seen the increase in male participation and women’s sports in all levels of competition. The changes set to take effect on Aug. 1 are in essence undoing the protections Title IX provided for women and will infringe upon our rights at the federal level, not just in Connecticut,” Soule went on.
Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Paula Scanlan also shared her experience competing on a team with transgender woman Lia Thomas.
“While on the men’s team, Thomas had personal best times in every freestyle event ever faster than Women’s World Records,” Scanlan said. “Once the season began, Thomas was leading the country in multiple events. Thomas then went on to become an NCAA champion and the 500-yard freestyle, the first NCAA champion in our women’s team history. Additionally, my teammates and I were forced to undress alongside Lia, a 6-foot-4-inch-tall male fully intact with male genitalia not once, not twice, but 18 times per week.”
Several swimmers sued the NCAA for allowing Thomas to compete at the national championships in 2022.
“When we tried to voice our concerns to the athletic department, we were told that sharing a locker room with Thomas was a nonnegotiable and we were offered psychological services as an attempt to reeducate us to become comfortable with the idea of undressing in front of a male. The Biden administration is actively encouraging this discrimination that I faced and we must now act to reverse this,” Scanlan said.
Twenty-four states have laws banning transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. The Biden administration originally planned to include a new policy forbidding schools from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes, but that provision was put on hold.
Some have argued the new provisions are illegal and an executive overreach. Measures have been introduced in both the House and Senate that would overturn them, but the bills have yet to be voted on.
“In the coming weeks, every member of Congress will have a choice to make, ” DeVos said.
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