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Six Reasons Why the Lhamon Title IX Proposal Gets It Wrong

The draft Title IX regulation seeks to transform the nation’s schools and universities according to a radical ideology. Described by one group as indulging in “lawlessmess,” the proposal has met with strong opposition from numerous attorneys general, lawmakers, organizations, and commentators.

Of greatest concern, the proposed regulation expands the definition of “sex” to include “sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.” (SAVE opinion poll: 63% of Americans oppose expanding the definition of “sex.”)

Opposition to the new policy centers around six major concerns: Due process, free speech and pronoun mandates, women’s sports, parental rights, bathroom and locker room privacy, and gender transitioning. These problems are explained below.

1. Due Process

Many colleges have failed to abide by the Fourteenth Amendment, which promises due process protections for all. SAVE’s Analysis of Judicial Decisions Affirming the 2020 Title IX Regulation reviews 175 judicial decisions in which judges issued decisions against universities. The new Title IX regulation seeks to remove key due process protections for persons, especially male students, accused of violating campus sexual misconduct policies.

2. Free Speech and Pronoun Mandates

A recent survey of 481 colleges reported only 12% received a “green-light” rating. The draft Title IX regulation would curtail free speech by broadening the definition of sexual harassment to include “unwelcome sex-based conduct” that can be evaluated “subjectively and objectively.”

And once the legal definition of “sex” is expanded to include gender identity, students can demand that teachers and other students call them by their preferred pronouns. But mandated speech is not free speech. In a recent Wisconsin case, a 13-year-old boy refused to use a fellow student’s preferred “they” and “them” pronouns, resulting in a Title IX complaint against him.

3. Women’s Sports

Transgender athletes enjoy numerous physical advantages over biological females. This contradicts the whole purpose of Title IX, which is to assure fairness for all students regardless of sex. For example, transgender Lia Thomas set new school and program records after competing on the women’s UPenn swim team.

4. Parental Rights

If the definition of sex is expanded to include “gender identity,” parents will lose their rights to restrict the exposure of young children to curricula on sexual orientation, gender identity, and age-inappropriate discussions of sexual practices. Worse, children could be gender “transitioned” and assigned a new name without their parents’ knowledge or consent.

5. Privacy in Bathrooms and Locker Rooms 

In August 2021, Loudon County, VA approved a new policy on Rights of Transgender and Gender-Expansive Students. The policy states, “All students are entitled to have access to restrooms and locker rooms that are sanitary, safe, and adequate…Students shall be allowed to use the facility that corresponds to their consistently asserted gender identity.”

During the following three months, a student committed a sexual assault in a girl’s bathroom, a victim’s father was arrested while trying to confront the school board over the assault, high schoolers staged a walk-out to protest the schools’ handling of the incident, teachers sued because the policy violated their First Amendment rights, the School District’s chief of staff was fired, and the case became a focus of heated debate during the race for governor.

6. Gender Transitioning

The goal of the feminist revolution must be the elimination of the “sex distinction itself: genital differences between human being would no longer matter culturally…The tyranny of the biological family would be broken.” — Shulamith Firestone

Gender dysphoria is deeply painful to persons affected by this problem. That said, the vast majority of children who struggle with their sex come to accept their biological sex by adulthood. Encouraging children and youth to transition to a different sex represents a radical experiment in gender engineering: “Doctors are conducting a giant experiment that does not come close to the ethical standards demanded in other areas of medicine,” reveals Ryan Anderson.

According to the UCLA Williams Institute, 1.4% of all youth ages 13-17 years, and 0.5% of adults self-identify as transgender. 

Numerous examples reveal the harm that can result from trying to “transition” children to a different gender:

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