Department of Education Uses Title IX to Enforce Bathroom Bans
Leading Off: The Department of Education uses funding cuts to try to enforce more bathroom bans. The U.S. Air Force denies trans troops hearings to stay in the service. And a trans athlete sues the NCAA. Our top stories starting out the week in trans news.
by Assigned Media
On Friday, the Department of Education announced they would begin the process of cutting off funds to five Northern Virginia school districts. This announcement comes following a demand by the DoE, which these districts refused, to change their policies that allow for transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity.
The DoE cites a violation of Title IX as the reason for their demands. In the districts’ refusal of these demands, they say that they believe they are following all the laws, and that compliance with the DoE would put them into a position of legal liability.
These five districts' refusal to comply with the demands of the Trump administration comes in stark contrast to Brown University’s capitulation to similar demands, resulting in the university enacting policies banning trans people from virtually all single-sex facilities on the campus.
Zooming out, it’s clear the administration is seeking to redefine protections against sex discrimination in education enshrined in law via Title IX to enforce a bathroom ban for all educational institutions that receive federal funding, from public schools to private universities nationwide.
Following their decision to go back on allowing transgender troops to retire early, the U.S. Air Force announced a new policy on Tuesday that would also deny transgender troops access to hearings that would allow them to argue to stay in the service.
Military lawyer, Priya Rashid, who has represented hundreds of soldiers in these types of hearings said to PBS that this kind of order was unheard of, noting “I’ve seen people with three DUIs retained, I’ve seen people that beat their wives retained, I’ve seen all kinds of people retained because the board is empowered to retain anyone for any reason if they feel it’s in the best interest of the service.”
These hearings have historically allowed for troops to stay in the service regardless of any other factors. For example, several marines who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, were allowed to continue serving afterwards.
Also speaking to PBS, Col. Bree Fram stated “Today it’s gender dysphoria; tomorrow it can be any condition or class the politics of the moment calls for.”
On Thursday, trans woman athlete Evelyn Parts sued Swarthmore College, the NCAA, and several athletic officials for discrimination because she was no longer allowed to compete. The lawsuit states that when the NCAA changed its policy regarding transgender athletes, after Parts had been competing for the school for two years, Swarthmore told her that she must either compete with the men or compete unattached from the university, meaning she would receive none of the support from the college an attached athlete might receive.
Parts is an example of the lives disrupted by arbitrary, ideologically driven bans on trans women in sports, and an example of trans people standing up for their right to be treated fairly and equally despite efforts to drive us out of public life.
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