Biden Title IX proposal would limit bans targeting transgender, nonbinary athletes

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Schools and universities across the US would be prohibited from outright banning transgender students from participating in school sports that align with their gender under a proposed rule to federal discrimination law from President Joe Biden’s administration. But the proposal would leave room for schools to implement rules determining eligibility criteria that could include some restrictions against trans athletes, noting “fairness in competition” and “competitive high school and college athletic environments” where “some schools may adopt policies that limit transgender students’ participation.” In a statement announcing the proposal, which must undergo a lengthy review process and will almost certainly be hit with legal challenges, the Education Department said the agency “heard repeatedly that many schools, students, parents, and coaches face uncertainty about when and how transgender students can participate in school sports, particularly because some states have chosen to adopt new laws and policies on athletics participation that target transgender students.” “Every student should be able to have the full experience of attending school in America, including participating in athletics, free from discrimination,” US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement on 6 April. “This proposed rule includes critical recognition of the importance of participating in sports for transgender youth and shows why 100 per cent of the state bans are invalid,” according to Sasha Buchert, senior attorney and director of the Nonbinary and Transgender Rights Project at Lambda Legal, among the LGBT+ civil rights groups that have launched legal challenges to state-level bans. “These students must have full and equal chances to participate because participation in athletics provides many long-term benefits for young people, including important health benefits, and chances to develop leadership skills, discipline, and self-confidence.” Kasey Suffredini, vice president of advocacy and government affairs at The Trevor Project, said that the proposed rule “makes it clear that the 20 state laws categorically prohibiting transgender young people from participating in school sports violate federal law.” The rhetoric and debates surrounding legislation targeting LGBT+ youth has taken on the mental health of an overwhelming majority of young trans and nonbinary people, according to recent polling from The Trevor Project and Morning Consult.