Florida sues Biden administration over Title IX changes, vows to ‘aggressively fight’
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida and several other states filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the Biden administration’s “overhaul” of Title IX, a statute originally meant to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex.
The state said the Title IX rewrite updates protections to include “gender identity” and “sexual orientation.”
“Biden’s new Title IX rules shred protections for women—that so many fought for over decades,” said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody. “The idea that young girls can now legally be forced to undress in the same room with males in what is supposed to be a safe space like a locker room, that a young woman could be randomly assigned a roommate that is a biological male with little to no say over the matter, or that biological men would be eligible for women’s scholarships is ludicrous.”
“To ensure safety and fairness, Florida will aggressively fight Biden who refuses to think through the real-world consequences before overhauling regulations,” she said.
The crux of the issue is partly around the law’s original text, which delineated against discrimination “on the basis of sex” in education programs that gain federal assistance.
“At the time of enactment, no one doubted that the law’s use of ‘sex’ referred to biological sex,” the complaint against the federal government states. “And all relevant indicators confirmed what everyone understood: ‘sex,’ as used in Title IX, means biological sex and does not include gender identity or sexual orientation.”
Florida and the other states also point out that the “limited circumstances” in which “discrimination” on the basis of sex is allowed is for separate bathrooms and lockerrooms.
“The rules could also force female college students to share dorm rooms with biological males,” Florida said.
Though the rule doesn’t expressly rescind §106.33, the Department says that its regulation is null and void. That regulation is not backed by a ‘statutory exception,’ the Department claims, and the Department ‘declines to adopt the Eleventh Circuit’s reasoning in Adams that the statutory carve out for living facilities’ justifies it… In other words, the rule declares §106.33 invalid without formally rescinding it and proclaims that excluding transgender or nonbinary students from using the bathroom or locker room of the opposite sex is illegal…
Coalition of states in legal complaint against the Biden administration
Gov. Ron DeSantis quickly vowed to battle the rule change after its enactment went public.
“Florida is definitely fighting back,” said Bryan Griffin on Monday, communications director for DeSantis.
“We live in a bizarre time where the federal government is attempting to force states to allow men into women’s locker rooms,” said Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis’ press secretary. “Not going to happen in Florida.”
The lawsuit includes Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, along with the Independent Women’s Law Center, the Independent Women’s Network, Parents Defending Education and Speech First Inc.
