Biden Administration Abandons Women And Girls, So States Should Step Up To Protect Them | Opinion

Last week, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona released a carefully scripted video alleging Title IX would not undermine women’s rights. Liberal mainstream media allies had stories prepped, sugarcoating the damage these updated regulations will have on women and girls across in K-12 schools and universities. This is all part of the Biden administration’s years-long plan to reverse decades of progress female trailblazers worked to achieve all in the name of "inclusion." 

The nearly 1,600-page rule demolishes women’s and girls’ rights and fails to acknowledge females exist as a protected class. The inclusion of "gender identity" in the policy wipes away 50-plus years of Civil Rights law and Supreme Court precedent. With this rewrite, the Biden administration essentially gives biological males the green light to access female spaces, including restrooms, locker rooms, and even lodging on overnight trips. The Biden administration caved to the extreme activists of his party and in doing so, abandoned the majority of Americans, particularly parents, who believe females deserve access to their own spaces and athletic teams.  

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If the Biden administration wants to abandon the millions of female students across the country, we need strong leadership at the state level to stand up and refuse to go along with this insanity. Already we have heard from state leaders who have committed to pushing back on these sexist policies. 

States Need To Step Up Where Biden Administration Did Not

In South Carolina, the State Superintendent Ellen Weaver directed schools in her district to disregard the new rule. In her response to the Biden administration, Superintendent Weaver wrote, "South Carolina students are not pawns to be sacrificed in cynical political gambits… our state will defend the inherit dignity of every person, while refusing to upend long-standing federal law, violate common sense, or acquiesce to radical attempts to redefine biological reality by bureaucratic diktat." 

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 23: Demonstrators listen to the speaking program during an "Our Bodies, Our Sports" rally for the 50th anniversary of Title IX at Freedom Plaza on June 23, 2022 in Washington, DC. The rally, organized by multiple athletic women's groups was held to call on U.S. President Joe Biden to put restrictions on transgender females and "advocate to keep women's sports female."(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In Oklahoma, Superintendent Ryan Walters also took action to push back against the administration’s anti-female regulations. In a letter he sent to school leaders across the state, he wrote, "I believe these rule changes are illegal and unconstitutional. They violate the First Amendment, the Administrative Procedures Act, and longstanding civil rights protections for women and girls. The ISDE has not been given the legislative or judicial authority to define ‘sex,'" Walters continued.

In Louisiana, the State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said in a letter to district leaders and school boards that "The Title IX rule changes recklessly endanger students and seek to dismantle equal opportunities for females." 

In Wyoming, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder released a statement, which in part said, "I am actively working with my counterparts across the country and other education organizations regarding how we can effectively litigate or otherwise oppose these offensive rules."

Follow The Lead Of Louisiana, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Others

On Thursday in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis posted a video saying his state "will not comply" with these bureaucratic federal regulations from the Biden administration, "undermining opportunities for girls and women."

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We need every state across America to follow their lead. There is too much at stake to allow this irresponsible and reckless rule to go into effect. 

Protecting females and working to advance the progress women have made throughout our nation’s history should not be controversial. We should not force girls to sacrifice their own safety and security because men decide they want access to their spaces or their sports fields. As renowned tennis player Martina Navratilova so eloquently put it, "Women’s sports is not the place for mediocre male athletes who compete as women." Females should not be forced to sacrifice their hard-fought progress because a fringe group in America wants to prioritize their ideological beliefs over the fairness and security of women. 

At Parents Defending Education, we are committed to supporting and empowering parents in America who value fairness, equality, and common sense. We especially stand with the parents of young girls everywhere who are rightfully worried about how this rule will unfairly target their daughters and jeopardize their safety on school grounds and college campuses. We look forward to working alongside leaders at every level of government and parent advocates who will take on this fight to protect the rights women and girls deserve to have.