Biden Administration Must Strengthen Title IX, Ensure Educational Environments Free From Sex-Based Discrimination

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mattie Goldman, [email protected]

WASHINGTON — The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, joined by 43 national civil and human rights organizations, called on the Biden administration and the U.S. Department of Education to ensure educational environments free from discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, or pregnancy and related conditions. The joint comment, submitted in response to the department’s notice of proposed rulemaking to amend the regulations implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, urges the department to move swiftly to restore and strengthen Title IX’s protections against sex-based discrimination to ensure that all students have equal educational opportunities.

“As a civil rights agency responsible for protecting students from discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin (including language status), sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, or pregnancy and related conditions), disability, and age, the department must restore and strengthen civil rights protections under Title IX to make schools safer for all students and vigorously enforce Title IX requirements that the department has relied on for decades,” the comment states.

These protections include an environment in which LGBTQ students, sexual assault survivors, transgender women, cisgender women, pregnant students, and all students are free to pursue their education and achieve their dreams.

The comment adds: “Students deserve — and the law requires — that the U.S. Department of Education fulfills its responsibility to protect the civil rights of all students to safeguard equal educational opportunities. Ensuring that all our students are safe and welcomed in schools is incredibly important to our organizations, our partners, and the communities we represent. The administration must make clear that the fundamental American values of fairness and equality will not be abandoned and that schools will provide all students an educational environment free from sex discrimination and violence.”

Read the full joint comment here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 230 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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