Athlete Ally Responds to DOE Title IX Athletics Proposal
Athlete Ally responded today to news that the U.S. Department of Education has announced a proposed change to Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs.
The proposal would make it illegal for schools to broadly ban transgender, nonbinary and intersex students from sports teams that align with their gender identity, rather than their assigned sex at birth. The proposal would also allow K-12 schools and universities to limit the participation of some transgender, nonbinary and intersex athletes depending on age and sport.
The proposed regulation would be in the Title IX regulations at section 106.41(b)(2):
If a recipient adopts or applies sex-related criteria that would limit or deny a student’s
eligibility to participate on a male or female team consistent with their gender identity,
such criteria must, for each sport, level of competition, and grade or education level: (i)
be substantially related to the achievement of an important educational objective, and (ii)
minimize harms to students whose opportunity to participate on a male or female team
consistent with their gender identity would be limited or denied.
“Title IX provides critical protections to make sport accessible to all students,” said Hudson Taylor, Founder and Executive Director of Athlete Ally. “We are grateful to see the Biden Administration taking steps to ensure that transgender, nonbinary and intersex students are included within these protections. Transgender, nonbinary and intersex student athletes — who are especially vulnerable youth —- have been under attack across the country through misguided and discriminatory policies that are not grounded in research or in what we know to be the actual, proven challenges women and girls face in sports. All children deserve to access the lifesaving power of sport, to learn valuable life skills around teamwork and discipline, and to develop lifelong friendships. We look forward to working with the Department of Education to ensure that every student is safe, welcome and included in the sport they love.”