A group of 25 Republican governors sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Friday asking the Biden administration to withdraw or delay proposed changes to Title IX that would prohibit schools from instituting policies that “categorically ban transgender students from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.”
The proposed changes, introduced in April, would allow schools to implement certain limitations in the interest of fairness or safety, however.
The group, led by Mississippi governor Tate Reeves, called the proposed rule a “blatant overreach.”
“Leaving aside the Department’s utter lack of authority to promulgate such a regulation, neither states nor schools should be subjected to such a fluid and uncertain standard,” the governors wrote. “Nor, most importantly, should the historic advancements and achievements of our sisters, mothers, and daughters be erased.”
The group warned the changes would create confusion for states and schools and suggested the Biden administration is threatening to withhold federal funds in an effort to force schools to comply with a “completely subjective standard that is based on a highly politicized gender ideology.”
The group included the governors of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Seventeen of those states have enacted legislation to ensure fairness in women’s sports.
The proposed rule, which would impact any school or college that receives federal funding, would expand Title IX protections to include gender identity. Under the proposal, a “one-size-fits-all” ban on transgender athletes playing on teams that match their stated gender identity would be a violation of Title IX.
“The U.S. Department of Education (Department) proposes to amend its regulations implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) to set out a standard that would govern a recipient’s adoption or application of sex-related criteria that would limit or deny a student’s eligibility to participate on a male or female athletic team consistent with their gender identity,” the Education Department wrote in April.
“Every student should be able to have the full experience of attending school in America, including participating in athletics, free from discrimination,” education secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement at the time.
However, the White House said in a news release that the proposal “also recognizes that in some instances, particularly in competitive high school and college athletic environments, some schools may adopt policies that limit transgender students’ participation.”
“The proposed rule would provide schools with a framework for developing eligibility criteria that protects students from being denied equal athletic opportunity, while giving schools the flexibility to develop their own participation policies,” the White House said.
Any permitted limitation would be required to serve “important educational objectives,” such as fairness in competition and reduction of injury risks. Limitations would be more likely to be approved for older students in more competitive environments.