A flurry of legal challenges in various states contend that the changes violate the principles of Title IX and accuse the federal government of overstepping its authority

Carleen Johnson
The Center Square Washington

The Biden administration’s final rule for Title IX extending federal protections for LGBTQ+ students went into effect nationwide Thursday, including in Washington state. Meanwhile, a slew of legal challenges has temporarily blocked more than half of all states from enforcing the updated regulations.

Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law enacted as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or other education program that receives funding from the federal government.

A flurry of legal challenges in various states contend that the changes violate the principles of Title IX and accuse the federal government of overstepping its authority.

The Biden administration says the changes promote equity and opportunity for students across the country, as well as accountability and fairness.

David Spring, executive director of the Washington Parents Network, argues the motives of the rule change are clear: to promote the transgender movement.

WPN had planned to file a motion for a temporary injunction to stop the rule changes, but a court ruling out of Alabama halted those plans.

“All the other courts had granted injunctions to stop the rule, and we assumed the Alabama court would do the same,” Spring told The Center Square.

In an email to supporters, Spring wrote, “To my shock and horror, instead of granting the injunction – as all the other seven federal judges had done – the Alabama judge wrote 120 pages of the most incomprehensible mumbo jumbo I have ever read.”

Spring pointed out two examples of what he sees as glaring contradictions in the ruling.

“First, the judge acknowledged that Title IX requires single-sex bathrooms and that ‘sex’ referred to biological males versus biological females,” he said. “But then she claimed it was ‘reasonable’ to allow transgender biological males in the girls’ bathrooms.”

Spring went on to say, “The Biden rule change allows a Title IX coordinator to charge a student or teacher who failed to use someone’s preferred pronoun even a single time with sexual harassment. The same Title IX coordinator would then be in charge of the investigation, which could be done in secret. The same Title IX coordinator would be the judge and jury and could find any teacher or student guilty of sexual harassment, ruining the teacher or student’s reputation for life!”

Not following these rules could be interpreted mean violating federal law, potentially resulting in sexual harassment charges or a loss of funding.

Spring said all hope is not lost.

“The 11th Circuit [Court of Appeals] granted Alabama and other states a seven-day emergency injunction against the Alabama judge’s ruling,” he noted.

So whether or not WPN files an appeal depends in part on how the court’s three-judge panel rules next week.

The U.S. Supreme Court has also signaled it may take up the case as early as October.

The Center Square reached out for comment to OSPI and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal and received the following response via email:

“All students in Washington state and across the U.S. deserve access to a high-quality education that is free from discrimination, and Title IX is just one of many protections to ensure that happens. For more information about impacts of the rule changes to Washington’s schools, please see the guidance OSPI issued in early July.”

David Olson, Peninsula School District board member, is running to be the next state superintendent.

He told The Center Square he is hopeful the rule changes won’t be fully implemented.

“As these changes take effect and more states sue to stop them, I think there will be a cascading effect of districts not complying with changes made by Biden to Title IX,” Olson said.

This report was first published by The Center Square Washington.