WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Independent Women’s Law Center, alongside Women’s Declaration International USA and Concerned Women for America, filed an amicus brief in the Sixth Circuit to prevent the illegal Biden-Harris Title IX rewrite from taking effect in Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia.
This politically diverse group explains that the Biden-Harris regulation would devastate opportunities and privacy for girls, including by forcing girls to undress and shower with males in the locker room. The brief highlights the story of Independent Women’s Forum ambassador and former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Paula Scanlan, who was forced to change with UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas 18 times per week. The Biden-Harris administration’s “demand that schools provide locker-room access in accordance with gender identity ignores … biological realities and, in the process, violates Title IX’s unmistakable and longstanding requirement to account for the ‘unique facets’ of the sexes,” IWLC explains.
IWLC goes on to explain how the Biden-Harris rule threatens women’s sports, by leaving schools “uncertain as to their obligations” and “likely to sacrifice women-only sports if that is what it takes to avoid being sued by males who want to compete with females.”
“The Department wishes to require gender identity-based access to women’s spaces in federally funded education programs. It lacks the statutory authority to do so,” IWLC concludes in the brief. “And for good reason. Congress has not gathered sufficient votes to demand that freshmen girls undress with senior boys, nor that women’s records across the country be replaced by individuals who have gone through male puberty (a class of people traditionally referred to as ‘men’).”
“The only thing more concerning about the Biden-Harris administration’s desire to eliminate the reality of male and female is the administration’s use of Title IX to do it. This law was intended to equalize opportunities for women, not by pretending we didn’t exist, but by explicitly affording us equal rights. The Biden-Harris bureaucrats want to infuse gender ideology throughout our education system, but cannot do so democratically. Independent Women’s Law Center will stand up for women and against lawless administrative power,” said May Mailman, director of Independent Women’s Law Center.
“‘Gender identity’ does not exist in any real, material sense, yet the Biden administration insists on pretending that it does. Women’s Declaration International USA (WDI USA) works to advance the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based Rights, which is grounded in radical feminist principles, throughout U.S. law and society. Article 7 of the Declaration reaffirms women’s rights to the same opportunities as men to participate actively in sports and physical education. Sports are played with bodies, not ‘gender identities.’ WDI USA is proud to unite with women’s groups across the political spectrum in standing with the plaintiffs in their fight to preserve the original intent of Title IX,” said Elizabeth Chesak, president of Women’s Declaration International USA.
“The fact we are in a battle to preserve the fundamental meaning of sex under Title IX is proof of the radical agenda of the Biden-Harris administration to strip women of our basic rights to women’s only sports and spaces. Female students and athletes have excelled under decades of certainty that Title IX law was on their side in protecting equality of opportunity on the basis of sex. Now they’re being forced by the Biden-Harris Department of Education to fight this battle all over again. Concerned Women for America is proud to be partnering with women’s groups across the political spectrum in this crucial brief to stand up for our God-given dignity as women. The truth about what a woman is will always be on our side, and we are confident we will win in court,” said Penny Nance, CEO and president, Concerned Women for America.
A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.
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Independent Women’s Law Center advocates for equal opportunity, individual liberty, and the continued legal relevance of biological sex.