Biden Administration Revises Title IX, Conveniently Ignores Transgender Sports Rule With Election Looming
The Joe Biden administration has officially issued new rules revising Title IX, but the new revisions ignore the issue of transgender athletes competing in sports based on their gender identity as opposed to the gender assigned to them at birth.
The new rules set to take effect on August 1 center around protections for LGBTQ students under federal law further extending the Title IX's reach to prohibit harassment and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
College students receiving more protection from potentially heinous circumstances is a positive move all humans should be willing to support, but the new rules do not address transgender athletes. The Education Department has proposed a second rule addressing eligibility for sports teams, one that the Biden administration refused to address while issuing these Title IX revisions.
Biden ignoring the topic of transgender athletes - specifically biological men competing in women's sports - is a convenient tactic given that the 2024 presidential election is fast approaching.
Transgender athletes competing in women's sports has become a major debate and discussion across the country and will continue to be a talking point made by both Biden and former President Donald Trump in the coming months.
The Biden administration has made changes to Title IX, but completely ignored the topic of transgender athletes competing in women's sports. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Conservative voters, along with those who accept the reality that biological males have a physical advantage over women, do not believe trans athletes should compete in women's sports. The debate isn't about transgender athletes competing in sports in general, but men competing against women. There is a monumental difference in both of those things, yet some attempt to pass the two as the same discussion.
Left-leaning voters, those who will likely select Biden on their 2024 presidential ballot, are more lenient on trans athletes competing against women. The Biden administration potentially enforcing rules keeping biological men out of women's sports would, believe it or not, rile up a portion of his supporters and Democrat counterparts.
Riley Gaines On Biden's Undermining Of Women And Female Athletes
What should not and simply can not be lost in these new rules added to Title IX is the changing of the law as a whole. Title IX dates back to 1972 and specifically, or at least originally, was created to prohibit discrimination under any education program "on the basis of sex" as quoted in the opening of the text of the law, not gender or gender identity.
That fact is not lost on Riley Gaines, host of OutKick's ‘Gaines For Girls’ podcast, who has experienced the absurdity of having to compete against a biological male during her college swimming career at Kentucky.
"The President and his administration can't act like they care about women or our opportunities and then go and wipe out women’s protections under the country’s landmark sex equality law. Title IX was passed over fifty years ago to end unjust discrimination in education, including athletics," Gaines said.
"I experienced this law undermined when female athletes like myself were told to keep quiet when a male swimmer took home a title in the women’s division and deprived female athletes of awards, honors, and the opportunity to compete. With its new Title IX rewrite, the Biden administration is unilaterally erasing 50 years of equal opportunity law for women."
Gaines is among the 16 former and current female college athletes championing a lawsuit against the NCAA and its regulations allowing male athletes to compete in women's sports. It's not only an important decision from Gaines and others, but a wise one given that the Biden administration clearly isn't going to get in the mud and get involved with the 2024 election on the horizon.