The timeline
On April 19, the Biden Administration announced an expansion to Title IX—a 1972 nondiscrimination law—to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and pregnancy at federally funded colleges and K-12 schools.
On April 29, Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Education Agency to ignore the expanded rules aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ students from discrimination. In a letter to President Joe Biden also written on April 29, Abbott argued the expanded rules exceed the federal government’s authority, calling them a “ham-handed effort to impose a leftist belief.”
On May 8, Abbott penned a letter to leaders of public colleges and universities in Texas instructing them to also ignore the Biden administration’s changes to Title IX. In it, Abbott wrote, “Biden wants to force every school across the country to treat boys and men as if they were girls and women, and to accept every student’s self-declared gender identity.”
Quote of note
After making the motion to approve the resolution to denounce the changes to Title IX at the May 20 meeting, Place 7 board member Mary Humphrey explained why the board was taking this stance.
“President Biden has threatened the position that we’ve already taken,” Humphry said. “Title IX was instituted to protect the rights of women, and I want to ensure that we continue to emphasize that we will protect their rights, their opportunities and their privacy.”
The Biden Administration's new Title IX rules are set to take effect Aug. 1.
