Penna Dexter

When the U.S. Department of Education released its rewrite of Title IX a couple of weeks ago, it took a landmark guarantee of equality in education on the basis of sex and turned it upside down.

Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 was designed to protect women’s rights in education. These protections were hard won. They were a pillar of the feminist agenda. After they were enacted, women and girls gained important protections and opportunities. Female participation in sports — from grammar school through college and beyond — exploded.

Title IX was passed in recognition of the inherent distinction between men and women. But this new rule imposes a radical redefinition of sex to include gender identity. In fact, according to The Washington Stand’s Ben Johnson, “The term ‘gender identity’ appears 289 times in the 1,577-page document.”

Sarah Parshall Perry, Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, has been warning for months that the administration was set to both “undermine constitutional freedoms — like the freedom of speech — and erase the very women that Title IX was enacted to protect.”

She explains in The Daily Signal that under the new rule, ”any K-12 school or institution of higher education that receives any federal funding would have to open girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms, housing accommodations, sports teams, and any other sex-separated educational program to biological boys who claim to ‘identify’ as girls.”

Ignoring or even questioning these guidelines will result in charges of harassment.

Certain state leaders have taken action against the new rule.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron De Santis directed their school districts to ignore the rewrite. Many state attorneys general are suing the administration over the changes.

How do we describe the gutting of such an entrenched law protecting women, such a brazen denial of biological reality? Gary Bauer uses the term “assault on normalcy.” He’s right. What a radical move six months before an election.