As a feminist organization, New England Women\u2019s Solidarity strongly opposes the final rule amending Title IX which was issued by the Department of Education on April 19, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This change redefines sex to include the ambiguous concept of \u2018gender identity\u2019 in all areas in which the rule applies, including sex discrimination in schools. It opens the door to male students who claim a female identity being able to allege discrimination if they\u2019re denied access to resources set aside for female students such as women\u2019s scholarships or entry to female facilities such as girls\u2019 locker rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, we\u2019re concerned that the administration has avoided clarity on whether or not you intend to extend these changes to school sports only because of the upcoming presidential election; polls have shown that the majority of voters believe biological sex, not gender identity, should determine sports eligibility, so declaring his opposition to that would potentially cost President Biden votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over fifty years ago, women fought to enact Title IX because they had long been subjected to discrimination in the U.S. educational system. For half a century now, this legislation has given female students opportunities which earlier generations of young women were denied, most notably in sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peer-reviewed studies have established that male anatomy confers significant speed and strength advantages that cannot be reversed even after years of cross-sex hormone treatment. Allowing males to compete in women\u2019s sports means that female athletes are cheated of honors and opportunities they have rightfully earned. Such inequity is precisely what Title IX was enacted to fix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sports aren\u2019t the only way that women and girls have benefited from Title IX: Alexander v. Yale<\/em> (1972) established that sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination covered by Title IX. Young women have a right to deny males entry to spaces where they undress, no matter how those males identify. It\u2019s sexual harassment to tell them that what men want is more important than their boundaries around their own bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DOE received over 250,000 public comments on this proposed change prior to enacting it – more than on any other proposed rule in its history. Our review showed that commenters overwhelmingly opposed the change and supported female students\u2019 right to their own spaces and sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new rule change in effect modifies the very purpose of Title IX, and we do not believe that the Department of Education has the authority to make an alteration of such magnitude through a simple rule change. Biological sex must not be replaced in the law by gender identity, a vague term that ignores the real consequences and vulnerabilities of being born female.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NEWS stands firmly against this Title IX rule change, and supports the right of women and girls to their own spaces and sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sent on June 12, 2024 As a feminist organization, New England Women\u2019s Solidarity strongly opposes the final rule amending Title IX which was issued by the Department of Education on April 19, 2024. This change redefines sex to include the ambiguous concept of \u2018gender identity\u2019 in all areas in which the rule applies, including sex […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newomen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newomen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newomen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newomen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newomen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newomen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180,"href":"https:\/\/newomen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/153\/revisions\/180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newomen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}