Trans rights throw Title IX into political strife amid state battles: ‘Akin to juggernaut’

Some critics say the “relentless” push by transgender activists could lead to a weakening of federal protections for women’s rights as emotional debate continues over transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.

Some argue that the inclusion of transgender people in Title IX protections could result in women being disadvantaged not only in high school sports, but long after graduation.

“We do know that 92% of female executives played competitive sports in high school or college, so there is a direct link between athletic performance, athletic opportunity and future success later in life,” said Sarah Parshall Perry, Senior Counsel at the Center for Legal and Edwin Meese III Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation.

Experts said states have entered into debates with legislation that has sparked controversy and legal arguments that could be taken to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Perry, who said she worked extensively during the Trump administration on Title IX clarifications, said she is now working to stop the Biden administration’s proposed “many changes” to a 1972 law that would ban sex discrimination in schools receiving federal funding.

FEDERAL COURT DECLINES ATHLETES’ REQUEST FOR CONNECTICUT’S TRANSGENDER SPORTS POLICY

Eighteen GOP-controlled states have banned transgender student athletes from participating in teams that match their gender identity.
(AP Photo/Samuel Metz, file)

She called it “a stunning act of arrogance” that President Joe Biden proposed in June last year to include gender identity in a statute to mark his 50th birthday.

“The rules … will enhance protections for LGBTQI+ students facing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” the Department of Education said at the time.

At the state level, Perry said she’s not surprised how many states are “in step” with the federal government, given what she called “top-down politics” on the controversial issue.

REPUBLICANS MAKE PROTECTING WOMEN’S SPORT FROM BIOLOGICAL MALE TRANS ATHLETES AN ELECTION MATTER

President Biden speaks at a press conference on the last day of the NATO summit in Madrid, June 30, 2022.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

“I call the transgender political push a bit of a juggernaut because it has gained such momentum and is moving at such a rapid pace,” she said.

Two high-profile attempts to ban biological males from women’s sports failed last month, the latest setback for restrictive advocates.

An Ohio bill that would ban biological men from women’s sports was defeated by the General Assembly days after a federal court in Connecticut crushed a protest against a policy that allows transgender athletes to compete in women’s leagues.

The defeats come amid a wave of education laws and legal skirmishes against transgender students that have been passed or offered in recent years, with the Connecticut case possibly the first of its kind to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

TRANS PSYCHOLOGIST FILE AGAINST MARYLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT HIDING TRANSITIONS FROM PARENTS: ‘TERRIBLE IDEA’

Transgender advocates march from the South Dakota Governor’s Mansion to the State Capitol in Pierre, South Dakota, on March 11, 2021.
(AP Photo/Stephen Groves, file)

Four female athletes tried to strike down a Connecticut policy that allows biological men to play on women’s sports teams, but a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected the challenge.

The federal court decision upheld the lower court’s ruling against the plaintiffs in Soul v. Connecticut Schools Association, who argued that the policies of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference put female athletes at a competitive disadvantage compared to other “born male students” in terms of competition. recognition and potential future scholarships.

The plaintiffs have sued to seek an injunction that would void the recorded victories of two biological male athletes who broke 17 girls’ track records and won 15 women’s state track and field titles.

Lawyers for Alliance Defending Freedom, who represented the plaintiffs, said they were deciding how best to proceed after the court’s decision.

REPUBLICANS MAKE PROTECTING WOMEN’S SPORTS FROM BIOLOGICAL MALE ATHLETES AN ELECTION MATTER

A group of demonstrators demonstrate outside the Ohio State House in Columbus.
(Reuters/Seth Herald)

“The Second Circuit was wrong and we are evaluating all legal options, including an appeal,” ADF Senior Counsel Christiane Kiefer said in a statement. “Our clients, like all female athletes, deserve access to fair competition. Fortunately, more states are taking action to protect women’s athletics.”

An analysis by the Washington Post earlier this year found that 64 such laws have been passed in the last three academic years regarding transgender students, 42% of which prohibit transgender students from participating in sports teams that match their gender identity.

In Virginia, which has been a hotspot for transgender student issues, Republican delegate Karen Greenhalgh introduced a bill in November that would restrict student participation in sports teams based on their biological sex. The bill also prohibits public schools from competing with private school teams unless the private schools agree to abide by the provisions of the bill.

Concrete efforts to restrict women’s sports to biological women have dominated 18 states, according to the nonprofit think tank. Movement development project (MAP).

GOV. NOEM TERMINATES CONTRACT WITH TRANSGENDER ADVOCACY GROUP: ‘DIVISING OUR YOUTH BY RADICAL IDEOLOGIES’

Demonstrators protest in support of the rights of transgender youth.
(Fox News/File)

Even in states that have introduced bans, injunctions prevent some of them from enforcing it, according to the MAP. This is the case in Idaho, which in 2021 became the first state to pass such a law thanks to the “fairness in women’s sports” law.

Similar injunctions exist in West Virginia and Utah and are pending further judicial review. A 2022 Montana court ruling permanently blocked the state’s higher education ban, but left the ban in place for K-12 schools.

Crimson South Dakota, which has been ruled by a Republican majority since 1996, is not immune to the political battles of gender ideology, according to a National Review report.

Lobbyists for Sanford Health, a Sioux Falls-based healthcare conglomerate that boasts of being “the largest rural healthcare system in the United States,” have played a key role in blocking conservative legislation in the state on transgender issues, according to sources who spoke with the outlet.

SOUTH DAKOTA LEGISLATORS REJECT GOVERNMENT CHANGES TO TRANSGENDER SPORTS ACT. NOEM

A protester shows support during a march in support of transgender people.
(Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images/File)

“A bill to stop doctors from giving hormone-blocking drugs to children – when it failed, it was all Sanford,” South Dakota Rep. John Mills told the National Review. “You want to believe it’s not about profits, but you’re also seeing the reality of what’s happening on the ground and you can’t help but be surprised.”

Sanford, whose contract with the state was eventually terminated, did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment as of press time.

THE FUTURE OF WOMEN’S SPORT AT RISK BECAUSE OF TRANSGENDER ATHLETES

Perry said it’s “difficult to separate” political ideology and money as motives for political battles over transgender issues, but she predicted they would lead to the Supreme Court. She also believes that money should be what will ultimately deal the death blow to the medical side of the movement, predicting class-action lawsuits against clinics and medical practitioners by their own patients.

“I think this whole ideology and its proponents should go bankrupt,” she said, noting that the Tavistock Clinic, the UK’s only dedicated gender identity clinic for children and young people, has closed after an independent review as it faces multiple lawsuits.

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“I think our biggest gender clinics will go the same way,” Perry said. “We are already seeing medical complications, and I really hope that if we can choke the head of the snake by cutting off funding for these organizations, then perhaps we will see this ideology begin to go away.”