PRESS RELEASE: Diverse Coalition Calls on Department of Education to End Its Plan to Rewrite Title IX Rules Governing Women’s Sports  

WASHINGTON—A diverse coalition of more than 28 organizations representing parents, athletes, public interest lawyers, policy experts, and civil rights groups today sent an open letter to Secretary Miguel Cardona asking him to abandon the U.S. Department of Education’s (Department) plans to force America’s public schools, colleges, and universities to allow biological boys and men to compete in girls’ and women’s sports and use women’s locker rooms and other intimate facilities.

Last year, the Biden administration proposed new regulations that rewrite Title IX to extend the meaning of “discrimination on the basis of sex” to include “gender identity.” As part of that proposed rulemaking, the Department also announced that it intends to propose yet another round of regulations addressing Title IX and athletics.

The coalition letter explains that, based on the Department’s current, unlawful interpretation of Title IX, the Department’s anticipated rulemaking would unfairly and unjustly penalize female student athletes at all stages of their athletic endeavors.

“The Department’s view that Title IX extends to gender identity is an extremist position not supported by the purpose, text, structure, or legislative history of Title IX,” said Bob Eitel, President and Co-Founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies, which organized the letter. “More importantly, if the administration proceeds with its radical re-rewrite of Title IX, it will result in severe harm to biological women and girls and cause them to lose positions on athletic teams, awards, scholarships, and prizes, as well as risk bodily harm in certain sports.”

To read the letter and the list of coalition members opposed to the Biden administration’s planned rewrite of the Title IX rules governing access to women’s sports, click here.

To learn more about the Defense of Freedom Institute’s work to defend Title IX, click here.

Coalition Members

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

Jessica Anderson
Executive Director
Heritage Action for America

Ryan T. Anderson
President
Ethics & Public Policy Center

Edward E. Bartlett
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

Cindi Castilla
President
Texas Eagle Forum

Craig DeRoche
President and CEO
Family Policy Alliance

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

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

Kimberly Hermann
General Counsel
Southeastern Legal Foundation

Ashley Jacobs
Executive Director
Parents Unite

Meg Kilgannon
Senior Fellow for Education Studies
Family Research Council

Adam Kissel
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary
Office of Postsecondary Education, Higher Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education

Carrie Lukas
Vice President
Independent Women’s Voice

Faith J. H. McDonnell
Director of Advocacy
Katartismos Global

Dan Morenoff
Executive Director
American Civil Rights Project

Penny Young Nance
CEO and President
Concerned Women for America

Nicole Neily
President
Parents Defending Education

Sarah Parshall Perry
Senior Legal Fellow
The Heritage Foundation
Former Senior Legal Counsel, Office for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Education

Ian Prior
Senior Advisor
America First Legal

Julie Quist
Board Chair
Child Protection League

Jay Richards, Ph.D.
Director, DeVos Center, and William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow
The Heritage Foundation

Jonathan Saenz
President
Texas Values

Dr. Kristine Severyn
Director
Girls Deserve Privacy

Cherise Trump
Executive Director
Speech First

Kris Ullman
President
Eagle Forum

Devon Westhill
President and General Counsel
Center for Equal Opportunity

Wendy Wixom
President
United Families International

Chad Wolf
Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer
America First Policy Institute

Peter W. Wood
President
National Association of Scholars