Gov. Kay Ivey is joining Republican governors around the country in pushing back against President Biden’s new Title IX rules. The policy expands the meaning of sexual discrimination to include gender identity that would prevent schools and colleges from protecting girls’ and women’s sports.
The 25 members of the Republican Governors’ Association, including Ivey, sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel A. Cardona calling on him to stop the changes to Title IX.
“The proposed rule could prevent states from enforcing our duly-enacted statutes protecting fairness in women’s and girls’ sports,” the letter said. “If not withdrawn, we are gravely concerned about the impact that the Department’s wholesale reinvention of Title IX’s terms would have on states’ ability to enforce their laws and policies as written.”
The governors believe this will create confusion and block opportunities for female athletes.
“Indeed, under threat of denying essential school funding, the Department’s proposed regulation would attempt to coerce compliance with an uncertain, fluid, and completely subjective standard that is based on a highly politicized gender ideology,” they said. “Most troubling, the proposed regulation would turn the purpose of Title IX on its head and threaten the many achievements of women in athletics.”
They also said the rules changes are unconstitutional and should be reversed immediately.
“The proposed rule also lacks any Congressional authority” they said. “The plain language used in Title IX does not allow the sweeping rewrites of Title IX that the Department persists in seeking. It is undisputed that Title IX prohibits discrimination ‘on the basis of sex.’ The regulation the Department attempts to rewrite clearly provides protection based solely on sex. Gender identity is not mentioned anywhere in Title IX.
“Leaving aside the Department’s utter lack of authority to promulgate such a regulation, neither states nor schools should be subjected to such a fluid and uncertain standard. Nor, most importantly, should the historic advancements and achievements of our sisters, mothers, and daughters be erased.”
In 2021, Ivey signed transgender athlete ban for K-12 athletes. The Alabama House and Senate passed legislation to extend it to college sports this session. It has one more step in the legislative process before arriving on Ivey’s desk for signing.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
