OPINION:
We need to protect college students from being forced to allow athletes who were born male to compete against women. At Young America’s Foundation, we were happy to join Moms for Liberty, Female Athletes United and the states of Alaska, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming in a lawsuit against the new regulations being pushed by the Biden administration for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
U.S. District Judge John Broomes recently ruled that the Department of Education lacked the authority to expand prohibited sex-based discrimination under Title IX to include discrimination based on gender identity and that the new regulations could chill speech “through vague and overbroad language.”
The new regulations pushed by the Biden administration are now blocked in Alaska, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming — as well as states that have students who are members of Young America’s Foundation, members of Female Athletes United and the children of members of Moms for Liberty. Before the order, the regulations would have gone into effect on Aug. 1.
Students who want relief from the outrageous new regulations should join Young America’s Foundation or Female Athletes United or get their parents to sign up as members of Moms for Liberty. Our goal is to have members of our foundation at every school in the nation, and this is a powerful incentive for students to sign up.
The Biden administration’s radical rules would force female athletes to compete against male athletes and even share locker rooms. They would make failure to use “preferred pronouns” an offense permitting expulsion and forfeiting tuition. And they would allow man-hating radicals to eliminate meaningful due process for accused young men.
This win in court allows us to ensure that biological males are not allowed to compete in women’s sports, women’s restrooms and locker rooms remain, and that schools are not required to enforce nonsensical pronouns.
The injunction granted by the federal judge notes that the Biden administration’s actions exceed the statutory authority of the Department of Education and violate the Administrative Procedures Act. The sweeping changes are a clear violation of each state’s right to create and enforce its own laws, impose undue administrative burdens, and violate the First Amendment rights of both students and educators. The court’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction is based on the strong likelihood that this case will ultimately prevail in our favor.
Judge Broomes wrote that the Education Department’s “reinterpretation of Title IX to place gender identity on equal footing with (or in some instances arguably stronger footing than) biological sex would subvert Congress’ goals of protecting biological women in education.”
He continued, “The final rule would, among other things, require schools to subordinate the fears, concerns, and privacy interests of biological women to the desires of transgender biological men to shower, dress, and share restroom facilities with their female peers.”
Colleges cannot challenge their inclusion of places except from the new Title IX regulations under the injunction. Inside Higher Ed reported, “That means that one student who is part of Young America’s Foundation on a campus could trigger the injunction.”
Members of the women’s swim team at Roanoke College announced earlier this year that they would not swim if they were forced to do so with someone who had previously competed on a men’s team. They were joined on stage by a number of their mothers. One of them said that their daughter was encouraged to take a stand after hearing a lecture earlier in the semester by Ben Carson about courage. Young America’s Foundation sponsored that lecture.
If the Biden administration’s radical new Title IX regulations go into effect, women like those on the Roanoke College swim team could be found guilty of violations for raising concerns about sharing locker rooms with athletes who were born male. Science reveals obvious differences between male and female athletes, but an honest discussion of these differences could lead to an investigation.
How cruelly ironic that women could be found in violation of a rule that was created to protect them in sports for raising concerns about people who were born male. Sadly, this is the world we live in.
Thankfully, our lawsuit with Moms for Liberty, Female Athletes United and the states prevailed — for now. We need to uphold that position throughout the process.
If you are a student, go to YAF.org and sign up for Young America’s Foundation membership today. If you know a student, encourage them to join. Membership not only protects you from these outrageous regulations but also protects others at your school. Let’s get members at every college and university in America so we can end these radical rules and restore common sense.
• Scott Walker is president of Young America’s Foundation and served as the 45th governor of Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.