Republican states challenge new Title IX rules protecting LGBTQ+ students

WASHINGTON (AP) Six more Republican states are rallying to challenge the Biden administration’s newly expanded campus sexual-assault rules, saying they exceed the president’s authority and undermine the Title IX anti-discrimination law.

A federal lawsuit, led by Tennessee and West Virginia, on Tuesday is asking a judge to halt and overturn the new policy. The suit is joined by Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Virginia. It follows other legal challenges filed Monday by nine states, including Alabama, Louisiana and Texas.

The lawsuits are the first to challenge the administration’s new Title IX rules, which expand protections for LGBTQ+ students and add new safeguards for sexual assault victims. The policy was finalized in April and will come into effect in August.

At the center of the dispute is a new provision that extends Title IX to LGBTQ+ students. The 1972 law prohibits discrimination based on sex in education. Under the new rules, Title IX will also protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The states involved say it amounts to an illegal rewrite of historic legislation.

They argue it will run afoul of their own laws, including those that restrict which bathrooms and locker rooms transgender students can use, barring them from using facilities that align with their new gender identity.

The U.S. Department of Education has no authority to allow boys into girls’ locker rooms, Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti said in a statement. In the decades since its passage, Title IX has been universally understood to protect the privacy and safety of women in private spaces such as locker rooms and bathrooms.

The administration’s new rules broadly protect against sex discrimination, but offer no guidance on transgender athletes. The Department of Education has promised a separate rule on this issue at a later date.

However, in their suits, Republican states argue that the latest update could be interpreted to apply to athletics.

Men who identify as women shall have, among other things, the right to compete within the programs and activities that Congress made available to women so that they may fairly and fully pursue academic and athletic excellence by providing back to Title IX protections, says the lawsuit led by Tennessee and West Virginia.

As the legal basis for the new rules, the Department of Education cited a 2020 Supreme Court case that protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from employment discrimination.

The new lawsuit challenges that rationale, saying the Supreme Court declined to address scenarios implicated by Title IX, such as a school not allowing a transgender student to use the bathroom or participate in sports associated with the students’ gender identity .

Among other things, the lawsuits also take exception to policy changes that dictate how schools and colleges must handle sexual assault complaints.

The administration’s new rules were proposed nearly two years ago, with a public comment period that garnered 240,000 responses, a record for the Department of Education.

The policy rolls back many of the changes implemented during the Trump administration, which added more protections for students accused of sexual misconduct.

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An earlier version of this story misstated which states led the new lawsuit. He was led by West Virginia and Tennessee and ran in Kentucky.

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