Republican States Prime for Showdown With Federal Government Over Transgender Protections

A growing number of Republican-led states have pledged to reject new Title IX standards issued by the Education Department this month, setting up a potential legal showdown with the White House over stronger protections for transgender students.

Top education officials in Florida, Louisiana, Wyoming, South Carolina, and Oklahoma have publicly criticized the Biden administration’s new Title IX regulations that include protections for transgender students, claiming that the new policies undermine women’s and girls’ rights by broadening the landmark civil rights law’s definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity.

South Carolina Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver, a Republican, issued a letter to district boards and superintendents this week calling the new restrictions “deeply troubling” and advising schools to disobey them. Cade Brumley, Louisiana’s education commissioner, also suggested that schools disregard the amended requirements, which he believes likely violate state and federal law.

More than a dozen Republican-led states have approved legislation prohibiting transgender kids from using gender-neutral toilets and locker rooms, as well as allowing teachers and students to disregard a trans person’s name and pronouns. According to a senior administration official, complying with such legislation may violate the new Title IX requirements if it creates a hostile environment.

“It is unavoidable that there will be a legal challenge to the new rules,” Brumley, a Republican, stated in a letter to local school officials last month. The state is considering its options for fighting the new regulations, Brumley told The Hill, and a lawsuit is not out of the question. Leading conservative organizations, including the Christian legal juggernaut Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), have expressly vowed to sue over the new laws, which were enacted earlier this month after more than a year of delays.

According to ADF legal counsel Rachel Rouleau, the new standards will “turn back the clock” on Title IX, which has been protecting students, teachers, and staff at government-funded schools from sex-based discrimination for more than 50 years.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced Thursday that the state intends to “fight back” against the new laws, which he claims undermine parents’ ability to determine their children’s education. Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, which DeSantis signed in 2021 and strengthened late last year, prohibits teachers from discussing sexuality and gender identity in the classroom.

On Thursday, DeSantis did not indicate how the state intended to defy the federal government’s demand to enact Title IX measures by August 1. His staff declined to comment on any specific actions the governor could take.

In an emailed statement, an Education Department representative stated that public schools around the country are required by law to amend their policies to comply with the new standards, regardless of whether state officials agree with them. Doing otherwise could risk federal education funds.

“As a condition of receiving federal funds, all federally-funded schools are obligated to comply with these final regulations,” the officials added. The loss of federal school money would be a severe blow to state education programs that are already struggling financially, but Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the conservative political organization Moms for Liberty, believes it may be worth the cost.

State legislators have the authority to reject government funding on principle or technical grounds. And, in this case, aiming to avoid the administration’s new Title IX standards, state Republicans appear to be receptive to discussing alternative school funding, according to Justice, citing preliminary discussions with conservative legislators.

Last year, Tennessee lawmakers discussed rejecting federal education funds, claiming that Washington’s participation in the state’s schools was “excessive.”

“Having the federal government hold money over your head in order to force you to do something that is against the fundamental rights of parents is wrong,” the Supreme Court said. “We’re asking legislators all over the country to consider not taking their funding.”

Moms for Liberty, created in 2021 by Justice and Tina Descovich, has received national recognition – and ridicule – for opposing school curricula and library books that cover racism and LGBTQ concerns. The Southern Poverty Law Center labeled the organization a “extremist” group in 2022, citing members’ comments against the LGBTQ community and efforts to combat pandemic safety standards in schools, a label Justice and Descovich have denied.

LGBTQ and civil rights organizations condemned the current wave of Republican-led campaigns to oppose the Biden administration’s Title IX provisions for transgender students, claiming that doing so will damage all students.

“These MAGA politicians are threatening to put schools in an incredibly precarious position, encouraging them to violate federal civil rights law, potentially opening them up to costly lawsuits, and putting their federal funding at risk,” said Brandon Wolf, press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ rights organization. “Their theatrics could prove incredibly damaging to students.”

The Biden administration has yet to complete a separate rule regarding sports eligibility. The Education Department’s plan, published in April, would prohibit schools from implementing policies that explicitly prohibit transgender student-athletes from participating on sports teams that correspond to their gender identity.