Proposed new federal rules would require student access to bathrooms based on their preferred gender identity. | Unsplash/Wilhelm Gunkel
Proposed new federal rules would require student access to bathrooms based on their preferred gender identity. | Unsplash/Wilhelm Gunkel
Terry Schilling, the president of the American Principles Project, is strongly criticizing the Biden administration's proposed new Title IX guidance, which would require schools that take federal funds to allow students access to bathrooms which fit their preferred gender identity, rather than their biological sex.
The proposed rule would also force school employees to use students' preferred pronouns. Schilling said that the proposed rule would be dangerous for girls, invade on the privacy of students and infringe on the free speech rights of staff.
"Under these new regulations, schools will now be required to allow boys into girls’ private spaces merely if they claim to be female," Schilling said in a statement. "This is a severe threat to the safety of girls, as we’ve seen already in Loudoun County, Virginia, where last year a male student in a skirt sexually assaulted a girl in a restroom. It is also, at the very least, an outrageous infringement on the privacy of students."
On June 23, the U.S. Department of Education released a statement highlighting newly proposed changes to Title IX regulations. The new rules, if they go into effect, would extend sex-based Title IX protections to sexual orientation and gender identity.
The American Principles Project condemned the proposed rule, saying that it would force schools to "allow biological males who say they identify as girls to access female restrooms, locker rooms and other private spaces. It may also be used to compel school employees to use students’ preferred pronouns."
According to the U.S. Department of Education, Title IX is a federal civil rights statute enacted in 1972. It prohibits schools, local and state governments and institutions which receive federal funding from discriminating on the basis of sex.
The expansion of Title IX to cover gender identity has already begun to stir up controversy across the country. In May 2022, The Sconi reported that three eighth grade boys were subject to investigation and possible discipline over their use of "incorrect pronouns" for another student.
The proposed rules would impact at least the more than 1.7 million students in Pennsylvania who attend public schools.
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