PRESS RELEASE: DFI-Led Coalition Calls on Biden Administration to Extend Public Comment Period for Proposed Title IX Athletics Regulation

WASHINGTON—The Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies (DFI) and a coalition fighting to save women’s sports is calling on the Biden Administration to give the public more time to comment on its proposed Title IX athletics rule impacting girls’ and women’s sports. 

The new rule, if implemented as written, would subvert the original intent of Title IX by requiring schools, colleges, and universities that receive federal funds to allow biological males to compete in women’s and girls’ athletics.

Given the profound impact this new rule will have on female athletes and schools, the DFI-led coalition is calling on the Biden Administration to extend the comment period from 30 to 90 days.

“This brief [30 day] comment period would deny the Department the benefits of a robust comment period by reducing the volume and analytical breadth of feedback available for the Department’s consideration,” the coalition letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona states. “Given Title IX’s historical significance to female student athletes and the impact the Athletics NPRM would have on every American school, college, and university that receives federal funding, we believe a significant extension of the comment period is warranted.”

DFI President and Co-founder Bob Eitel said, “This new rule proposes fundamental revisions to Title IX that undermine its longstanding purpose to provide equal opportunities for girls and women in athletics programs. The Biden Administration has no authority to reorient Title IX and replace sex-based rights with gender-based rights, nor should it be allowed to place this tremendous burden on schools to fully rewrite and revise their athletic participation polices to conform to a radical gender ideology. The stakes couldn’t be higher for female athletes. Extending the comment period to 90 days will ensure that the American people have time to thoughtfully analyze and provide important feedback on this rule.” 

DFI’s policy and legal teams have a strong record of defending Title IX and protecting women’s and girls’ sports. To learn more, click here.  

To read the coalition letter to Sec. Cardona. click here.

Coalition Members: 

Robert S. Eitel
President and Co-Founder
Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies

Edward E. Bartlett, Ph.D.
President
SAVE

Jennifer C. Braceras
Director
Independent Women’s Law Center

Vernadette R. Broyles, Esq.
President and General Counsel
Child & Parental Rights Campaign

Lindsey M. Burke, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Education Policy
The Heritage Foundation

Max Eden
Author of Why Meadow Died (Post Hill, 2019)

Dr. Elana Yaron Fishbein
Founder & President
No Left Turn in Education

Kimberly S. Hermann
General Counsel
Southeastern Legal Foundation

Ashley Jacobs
Executive Director
Parents Unite

Meg Kilgannon
Senior Fellow for Education Studies
Family Research Council

Dan Morenoff
Executive Director
The American Civil Rights Project

Penny Young Nance
CEO and President
Concerned Women for America

Nicole Neily
President
Parents Defending Education

Jonathan Saenz
President
Texas Values

Roger Severino
Vice President of Domestic Policy
The Heritage Foundation

Kris Ullman
President
Eagle Forum

Ryan Walker
Vice President, Government Relations
Heritage Action for America

Ruth Ward
Director, Government Affairs
Family Policy Alliance

Devon Westhill
President and General Counsel
Center for Equal Opportunity

Wendy Wixom
President
United Families International