Equality Caucus Condemns Republicans’ Attack on Title IX
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the Congressional Equality Caucus released the following statement after the Committee on Education and the Workforce voted to advance H.J.Res. 165, a resolution to repeal the Biden Administration’s final Title IX rule, out of committee:
“President Biden has taken unprecedented steps to protect every student on campus, but today Republicans on the Education and the Workforce Committee voted to repeal these protections as part of their ongoing attacks on the LGBTQI+ community,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02), Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. “Reversing President Biden’s Title IX rule will undermine the Department of Education’s ability to protect LGBTQI+, pregnant, and parenting students from discrimination and support survivors of sexual violence. Once again, House Republicans are trying to stigmatize LGBTQI+ and other minority students by repealing critical nondiscrimination protections.”
BACKGROUND
On June 5th, Rep. Mary Miller (IL-15) introduced H.J.Res. 165 to use the Congressional Review Act to repeal President Biden’s new Title IX rule, “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance.” If the repeal were successful, the Title IX regulations would revert to those issued by President Trump’s Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, in 2020, and future administrations would be blocked from ever issuing a rule that was “substantially the same” as the Biden Administration rule.
Today, the Republicans on the Committee on Education and the Workforce voted to report H.J.Res. 165 favorably out of committee.
The Department of Education’s final Title IX rule—which this resolution seeks to repeal—explicitly clarifies that Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sex includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics, and sex stereotypes, as well as pregnancy or related conditions. The rule also makes clear that sex-based harassment includes sexual harassment and harassment based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, or gender identity, that is quid pro quo harassment, hostile environment harassment, or sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking. In addition, the rule makes significant changes to ensure schools are properly addressing sex-based harassment, including sexual violence. Although sexual violence affects people of all identities, federal data shows that LGBQ+ youth and trans youth are more likely to have experienced sexual violence than their straight and cisgender counterparts.
The final rule is available in the Federal Register.
A fact sheet on the rule from the Department of Education is available here.