OKLAHOMA CITY (May 6, 2024) – Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a federal lawsuit today challenging the Biden Administration’s new change to Title IX rules that adds gender identity to the longstanding federal protections.
Filed in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Oklahoma, the suit asserts that the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) under Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has created an unconstitutional reworking of Title IX protections.
“In doing so … it ignores the literal text of the statute and the purpose behind its creation, it disregards the lack of public support for the proposed rule, and it jeopardizes the equal opportunity that has been afforded to female athletes ever since the establishment of the statute,” states the filing.
“The Department attempts to make these drastic and detrimental changes while relying on a Supreme Court case that has no connection to Title IX. Perhaps worst of all, implementation of the Final Rule would serve to isolate and deny the group of athletes that the statute was originally designed to promote and protect – female athletes.”
The suit notes that these changes actually harm female students.
“Students of both sexes will experience violations of their bodily privacy by students of a different sex,” states Drummond's lawsuit. “Indeed, the Final Rule also ignores psychological and safety concerns. For instance, a recent study points out that ‘limited research has explored girls’ experiences of competing on boys’ sports teams,’ noting unique challenges to female athletes. … Female athletes describe ‘having to navigate tensions and problematic assumptions of girls’ inferiority in sport.’ Meanwhile, research shows that female athletes are more willing to participate in single-sex athletics and less likely to feel self-conscious in single-sex athletics.”
The litigation also argues that this rule violates the Tenth Amendment by usurping authority belonging to States and Congress. The Title IX change, which is slated to take effect Aug. 1, conflicts with Oklahoma state law prohibiting transgender girls from taking part in women’s sports and requiring school bathroom use according to biological sex, not gender identity.
Today’s filing reflects concerns Drummond expressed in a May 2023 public comment opposing what he described as a “riddled with flaws” proposed rule by USDOE.
Read more about today's filing and Drummond's May 2023 public comment.
___