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A federal judge in Kansas has temporarily enjoined the administration of Joe Biden from its ongoing crusade to erode women’s rights by redefining Title IX.
Adopted in 1972, Title IX (.pdf) prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex at any academic institution or within any education program which receives federal funding. Biden’s administration has sought to redefine Title IX to include protections for men who identify as women – thereby inviting a wave of institutional discrimination against biological women.
And forced compliance of the far left orthodoxy regarding gender “fluidity …”
This discrimination was brought to the fore two years ago when Lia Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania – a biological male – was awarded the NCAA women’s 500-yard freestyle national championship. Thomas had previously competed as a male, ranking No. 462 nationally. As a “woman,” she ranked No. 1.
My media outlet spoke out against the NCAA in no uncertain terms, encouraging women on the receiving end of such overt discrimination to stand up for their rights.
“It is my sincere hope that the female athletes and institutions deprived of their rightful places on the podium by Thomas and other trans athletes will explore their options under Title IX,” I noted in my excoriation of the NCAA.

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Wary of such challenges, Biden and his bureaucrats sought to rewrite the law – and to effectively outlaw any dissent of the new orthodoxy. Under the guise of “reducing the occurrence of sex discrimination,” Biden’s Department of Education (DOE) promulgated regulations which eviscerated Title IX’s protections for women – and sought to impose compulsory “compliance” with the new woke orthodoxy.
Included in this “compliance?” Notwithstanding the inherent unfairness of men competing in women’s sports, Biden’s bureaucrats sought to mandate the compulsory use of dressing rooms and restrooms by both sexes – as well as the mandatory acknowledgment of “preferred pronouns.”
On Tuesday, U.S. district court judge John W. Broomes blocked the government from enforcing this rule – arguing it lacked “authority to expand sex to mean gender identity.”
In his ruling (.pdf), Broomes concluded Biden’s “interpretation of sex and discrimination” was “contrary to the statute and historical context of Title IX,” and, as such, the plaintiffs bringing the case against the federal government were “likely to succeed on their claim that the DOE exceed its statutory authority in expanding the definition of sex discrimination.”
“(The administration’s) reinterpretation of Title IX to place gender identity on equal footing with – or in some instances arguably stronger footing than – biological sex would subvert Congress’ goals of protecting biological women in education,” Broomes wrote. “The (new rule) would, among other things, require schools to subordinate the fears, concerns, and privacy interests of biological women to the desires of transgender biological men to shower, dress, and share restroom facilities with their female peers.”
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In crafting his ruling, Broomes – an appointee of former U.S. president Donald Trump – referenced the intent of the lawmakers who passed Title IX more than a half-century ago.
“One of the principal purposes of the statute was to root out discrimination against women in education,” wrote in his ruling. “The legislative history shows that Congress was concerned about the unequal treatment between men and women for admissions opportunities, scholarships, and sports.”
“The legislative history is clear that Congress was referring to the biological sex of both males and females,” he added.
Broomes’ ruling also addressed claims by plaintiffs that Biden’s bureaucrats, via the promulgation of the new Title IX rules, would be “compelling speech that aligns with Defendants’ ideology, censoring speech through content-based restrictions and viewpoint discrimination, chilling speech through vague and overbroad language, and forcing individuals to engage in speech that violates their sincerely held beliefs.”
According to the judge, the rule indeed “violates the First Amendment by chilling speech through vague and overbroad language.”
Celebrating the ruling was Moms for Liberty, one of the plaintiffs in the filing. In a statement, the group’s founders referred to the injunction as a victory for parental rights and “the protection of children.” One of the Palmetto State’s leading parental rights’ advocates, Carly Carter, also praised the issuance of the injunction.
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According to Carter, the Biden administration’s rule was “caving to the gender identity, gender confusion” ideology and allowing “a man who thinks he’s a woman” to have “equal rights with a woman.”
Thanks to the injunction – and the “courageous” parents who challenged the administration on its rule change – Carter said a host of potentially aggrieved parties could wind up being afforded newfound protections.
“Any child who has a parent who is a member of Moms for Liberty will be protected from these changes,” Carter said, citing a portion of Broomes’ ruling which applied the terms of the injunction to all of the plaintiff organizations.
Carter, who heads the Anderson County chapter of Moms for Liberty, is encouraging moms in the Palmetto Upstate to join her group and assert their rights as parents.
“We would love to see all the schools protected,” she said.
Technically, Broomes’ injunction only applies to Alaska, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming – the four states listed as plaintiffs in the Kansas case. However, previous rulings have prevented it from being enforced in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana.
Conversely, New Jersey attorney general Matthew Platkin has chimed in on the side of the federal government – filing an amicus brief defending the measure along with California, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
“We will keep fighting to protect gender-diverse students,” Platkin said in announcing the filing of the brief.
As our media outlet has documented, South Carolina has been at the forefront of the national effort to safeguard women’s sports. S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson has been leading a national push to protect Title IX from the Biden administration’s incursions. Meanwhile, outgoing state representative Ashley Trantham has been a leader in the attempt to safeguard the integrity women’s sports via legislation.
This isn’t just a far right effort, either. Centrist “Republicans” including former S.C. governor Nikki Haley have also hopped on the bandwagon.
While my media outlet welcomes all intelligent views on this debate – and any debate – my position remains clear: Only women should be allowed to compete in women’s sports.
“The hill I will die on every time is this absurd notion that inherent unfairness can somehow promote equality,” I noted four years ago. “That aspirational inclusion can somehow justify actual exclusion. And that those who refuse to fall in line with this insane new orthodoxy are somehow morally inferior to those attempting to foist it upon us and our children.”
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THE INJUNCTION …
(U.S. District Court)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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1 comment
The pendulum is swinging….