Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch is suing the Biden administration over its plan to expand Title IX to cover LGBTQ+ students.Title IX of the Civil Rights Act was established in 1972 to protect women from discrimination. The Biden administration announced earlier this month that on Aug. 1, the rules will expand to prohibit discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics in federally funded education programs.Fitch joined attorneys general in Louisiana, Montana, and Idaho in filing a legal challenge to the ruling.”Title IX has been a gamechanger for generations of women,” Fitch said in a statement. “For more than 50 years, it has given girls an opportunity to compete on a level playing field and offered them a fair chance to excel. The Biden Administration’s pursuit of an extremist political agenda here will destroy these important gains.”Fitch went on to say that the Biden administration is cutting legal corners to push through the changes.”Right now, women’s privacy and opportunity is strictly under attack,” Fitch said in a Wednesday phone call with 16 WAPT. ACLU LGBTQ+ staff attorney McKenna Raney-Gray said statistics show that one-quarter of LGBTQ+ students in Mississippi schools have experienced physical harassment or assault based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.”That is an astonishing amount of students who have faced physical repercussions in school for their sexual orientation or gender identity, just being who they are if that’s open or not at school,” Raney-Gray said. In introducing the rule, the U.S. Department of Education secretary, Miguel Cardona, said the measure was clarified in order to protect all students.The final rule comes following continued political and legal fights in the state about LGBTQ+ issues. One signed into law by the governor last year, prevents transgender female athletes from participating on girls’ and women’s sports teams.The lawsuit filed by Fitch contends that applying the rule would clash with the state’s decision. The U.S. Department of Education said the rule doesn’t apply to sports teams, and they plan to issue a separate rule to address sex-separate athletic teams.Another hot topic is bathrooms within schools. After dying in conference earlier this week, “The Safer Act,” or Mississippi Senate Bill 2753, an effort to prevent transgender students from using bathrooms that don’t match their sex assigned at birth, was brought back Wednesday through a House Concurrent Resolution suspending the deadline for further consideration.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch is suing the Biden administration over its plan to expand Title IX to cover LGBTQ+ students.
Title IX of the Civil Rights Act was established in 1972 to protect women from discrimination. The Biden administration announced earlier this month that on Aug. 1, the rules will expand to prohibit discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics in federally funded education programs.
Fitch joined attorneys general in Louisiana, Montana, and Idaho in filing a legal challenge to the ruling.
“Title IX has been a gamechanger for generations of women,” Fitch said in a statement. “For more than 50 years, it has given girls an opportunity to compete on a level playing field and offered them a fair chance to excel. The Biden Administration’s pursuit of an extremist political agenda here will destroy these important gains.”
Fitch went on to say that the Biden administration is cutting legal corners to push through the changes.
“Right now, women’s privacy and opportunity is strictly under attack,” Fitch said in a Wednesday phone call with 16 WAPT.
ACLU LGBTQ+ staff attorney McKenna Raney-Gray said statistics show that one-quarter of LGBTQ+ students in Mississippi schools have experienced physical harassment or assault based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“That is an astonishing amount of students who have faced physical repercussions in school for their sexual orientation or gender identity, just being who they are if that’s open or not at school,” Raney-Gray said.
In introducing the rule, the U.S. Department of Education secretary, Miguel Cardona, said the measure was clarified in order to protect all students.
The final rule comes following continued political and legal fights in the state about LGBTQ+ issues. One signed into law by the governor last year, prevents transgender female athletes from participating on girls’ and women’s sports teams.
The lawsuit filed by Fitch contends that applying the rule would clash with the state’s decision.
The U.S. Department of Education said the rule doesn’t apply to sports teams, and they plan to issue a separate rule to address sex-separate athletic teams.
Another hot topic is bathrooms within schools. After dying in conference earlier this week, “The Safer Act,” or Mississippi Senate Bill 2753, an effort to prevent transgender students from using bathrooms that don’t match their sex assigned at birth, was brought back Wednesday through a House Concurrent Resolution suspending the deadline for further consideration.
