Title IX Proposal Prohibits Categorical Bans on Trans Student Athletes, Allows Some Restrictions
Summary from the AllSides News Team
A long-awaited Education Department Title IX proposal would require restrictions on transgender student athletes to relate to educational objectives and minimize harm to trans students.
Key Quotes: The proposal would not prohibit the “use of sex-related criteria altogether.” Instead, such criteria would be required to “be substantially related to the achievement of an important educational objective,” and “minimize harms to students whose opportunity to participate on a male or female team consistent with their gender identity would be limited or denied.” The Education Department “anticipates that some uses of sex-related eligibility criteria would satisfy the standard in the proposed regulation,” including to ensure fairness in competition and to prevent injuries.
For Context: Some estimate there are about 300,000 people ages 13–17 who identify as transgender in the U.S. Of those, roughly 13% play sports, making up less than half of 1% of high school athletes. As the number of trans youths in the U.S. rises, trans student athletes have become a hot-button political issue, with Republican-run states passing bills enforcing sex-based team criteria in the name of protecting fairness for cisgender female athletes. The Education Department’s proposal may conflict with many of these state rules.
How the Media Covered It: Coverage from the right framed the proposal as banning “blanket bans” on trans athletes and highlighted Republican governors who opposed the proposal. While some left-rated outlets also said the proposal prohibited blanket bans, some headlines specified that the rules would allow some restrictions on trans athletes.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Right
Biden Administration Proposes Title IX Change to Prohibit Total Bans on Trans AthletesThe Biden administration on Thursday unveiled a proposal that would prohibit schools from instituting policies that “categorically ban transgender students from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.” The policy would allow schools to implement certain limitations in the interest of fairness or safety, however.
The proposed rule, which would impact any school or college that receives federal funding, would expand Title IX protections to include gender identity. Under the proposal, a “one-size-fits-all” ban on transgender athletes playing on teams that match their stated gender identity would be a violation of...
From the Center
Schools could limit transgender students’ sports participation under Biden admin proposalThe Biden administration on Thursday proposed a rule that would allow schools to place some restrictions on transgender athletes, particularly in competitive high school and college sports.
In a long-awaited proposal, federal education officials said that K-12 schools and colleges cannot establish across-the-board bans on transgender students participating on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity — a direct challenge to laws in several states. But the proposal would allow schools to keep transgender students off certain teams in the interest of “ensuring fairness in competition or preventing sports-related injury,”...
From the Left
Biden administration says schools may bar trans athletes from competitive teamsThe Biden administration on Thursday proposed new regulations that would allow schools to bar transgender athletes from participating in competitive high school and college sports, but disallow blanket bans on the athletes that have been approved across the country.
The rules would narrow when discrimination of trans athletes would be permitted. But they also would offer guidelines for when schools could bar their participation.
Under the proposal, schools would need to consider a range of factors before imposing a ban on trans athletes and would need to justify it based on...
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May 18th, 2024