CV NEWS FEED // Florida – along with several other red states and women’s groups – announced it is suing the Biden administration over the Department of Education’s recent pro-LGBTQ changes to Title IX.
“Starting August 1, 2024, the Biden administration will repeal the Trump administration’s Title IX rule and replace it with one of its own,” the joint lawsuit states.
The suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
In addition to Florida, the case’s listed plaintiffs include the states of Alabama and Georgia – as well as the Independent Women’s Law Center, Independent Women’s Network, Parents Defending Education, and Speech First, Inc.
Biden administration Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and his department, are the defendants in the newly announced case. Cardona is a self-professed Catholic.
“While different administrations can have different policy views, they cannot override the text that Congress enacted in 1972 or overrule the binding precedent of this circuit,” the suit’s complaint continued.
“The Biden rule does both – to the detriment of the States, their schools, and their students,” it noted.
“Most pressingly this Court should stay the rule’s effective date, keeping the Trump rule in place while the parties litigate cross-motions for summary judgment,” said the complaint.
>> CRITICS SLAM BIDEN’S TITLE IX CHANGES: ‘WAR ON WOMEN AND GIRLS’ <<
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the suit on X (formerly Twitter) Tuesday morning.
“Biden is abusing his constitutional authority to push an ideological agenda that harms women and girls and conflicts with the truth,” DeSantis wrote on the platform.
“We will not comply, and we will fight back against Biden’s harmful agenda,” he emphasized.
Parents Defending Education Foundress and President Nicki Neily – whose group is among the case’s plaintiffs – wrote on X Monday afternoon: “The role of Cabinet agencies is to interpret laws as written by Congress – not to redefine the meaning of words to suit a fringe group of activists.”
“The final rule lays bare the Biden Administration’s contempt for families, trumping state laws which reiterate parents’ right to access information and make decisions about issues related to their children’s gender identity in schools,” Neily’s post continued:
By lowering the standard of “harassment” to little more than a one-off expression of humor, satire, or parody, the free speech rights of every young learner in America has become subordinate to how the most sensitive student might interpret a phrase.
“This Title IX rule is both unconstitutional and immoral, and we look forward to vindicating our members’ rights in court,” Neily concluded.
Early Tuesday, The Daily Wire reported that at least six other states – in addition to the three in the aforementioned lawsuit – “have filed lawsuits against the Biden administration over its new Title IX rules forcing public schools to allow trans-identifying males to compete in women’s sports and use women’s bathrooms.”
The Daily Wire’s report lists these states as Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, South Carolina, and Texas. All have Republican governors and attorneys general.
>> RED STATES REJECT BIDEN TITLE IX RULES <<
Retired collegiate swimmer and women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines has been a prominent critic of the Biden administration’s Title IX changes, since they were announced earlier this month.
“Title IX was implemented 52 years ago,” Gaines wrote on X late Monday afternoon. “It changed my life.”
“[T]he Biden admin has officially abolished Title IX by making it law that sex = gender identity,” she added. “This is illegal, discriminatory, and regressive.”
“[Biden] can expect an onslaught of lawsuits being dropped today,” Gaines stressed.
Former Rep. Tusi Gabbard, formerly D-HI, now an independent, agreed with Gaines’ post writing, “Title IX changed everything for women and girls in sports for over fifty years.”
“Today’s Democrat elite have destroyed Title IX by forcing women to compete against biological men, and threatening to withhold federal funding from any school that refuses to comply with this insanity,” Gabbard continued.
She proceeded to thank Gaines for her “courage” in standing up for the rights of women and girls.
In recent years Gabbard has emerged as a sharp critic of her former party on a variety of issues, including Democrats’ overwhelming support of the LGBTQ movement and abortion.
The former congresswoman endorsed the campaigns of multiple Republican candidates during the 2022 midterm election cycle.
In addition, Gabbard is widely considered a top contender to be former President Donald Trump’s running mate in November’s presidential election.
During a FOX News town hall in February, Trump confirmed that both Gabbard and his former nomination rival DeSantis were among the names on his vice-presidential shortlist.
The prospect of Trump picking Gabbard to be his ticket-mate has been praised by some women’s sports advocates.
Noted Gaines’ ally and fellow retired collegiate swimmer Paula Scanlan, a Catholic, wrote on X Monday night, “I think Tulsi would be a very wise pick for a variety of reasons. She’s served this country, she can help mobilize the female vote and she might even bring along more independents.”
