The Biden administration is facing backlash from liberals on social media over its recent proposal to alter Title IX to include gender identity.
The Department of Education (ED) proposed new Title IX guidelines Thursday that would prohibit schools and colleges from enacting blanket bans on transgender athletes. The new proposals, however, allow colleges and high schools space to limit transgender athletes’ participation if those students do not fall within eligibility criteria that would allow for competitions to be conducted fairly and safely.
Some high-profile pro-transgender activists expressed disapproval of the updated Title IX proposals, arguing they further stigmatize transgender athletes and concede ground to right-wing talking points. (RELATED: Biden Admin Releases Guidance Preventing ‘Categorical’ Bans On Trans Athletes)
Transgender independent journalist Erin Reed slammed the proposal in a Substack post. Reed claimed the proposal would leave too much room for schools to prohibit transgender athletes from participating and that it validates the conservative narrative that trans presence in sports impede women’s ability to win or participate safely.
To put it mildly, this is extraordinarily disappointing and a total reversal from a position the Biden administration has taken since Day One. Wow. https://t.co/L5mQ0t98CD pic.twitter.com/9c1lVbOoNx
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) April 6, 2023
“The new regulations detail numerous ways schools can ban trans athletes while remaining compliant with Title IX, alarmingly echoing right-wing talking points about scholarships and risk of injury,” Reed wrote. “These regulations specify methods schools may employ to determine a student’s sex, including invasive physical examinations. Although the administration will likely try to spin it as a nuanced approach, it will likely only add fuel to the fire of schools trying to ban transgender people from sports.”
Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez echoed similar sentiments on Twitter, claiming the Biden administration should scrap the proposal altogether.
“Absolutely no reason for the Biden admin to do this. It is indefensible and embarrassing,” the congresswoman tweeted. “The admin can still walk this back, and they should. It’s a disgrace.”
Mark Joseph Stern, senior legal writer with Slate Magazine, expressed frustration with the proposed Title IX alteration, arguing it reneges on earlier positions the administration has taken on trans rights.
“To put it mildly, this is extraordinarily disappointing and a total reversal from a position the Biden administration has taken since Day One. Wow,” Stern tweeted.
“Honestly, this move by Biden to push a rule on trans kids in sports is not only a backwards betrayal, it force us to have to spend our time dealing with god damn sports instead of criminal bans on our healthcare. He could have just done nothing. This is legitimizing transphobia,” transgender activist Alejandra Caraballo tweeted.
A federal judge in 2022 blocked the administration’s proposal to extend Title IX protections to encompass sexual orientation and gender identity, with Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor calling the ruling a “major victory for women’s sports.”
Parents Defending Education president Nicole Neily spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation about the most recent proposal. “The Biden administration is trying to have their cake and eat it too: inject gender identity into athletics while placing the onus upon school districts to determine whether doing so would be problematic or not,” she said. “Without a doubt, institutions are going to err on the side of ‘inclusion,’ because they fear the wrath of the Education Department – thus, achieving the Department’s end goal while maintaining plausible deniability that they coerced districts into doing so.”