Title IX is under attack by the Biden-Harris administration
With the closing ceremony now in the rearview, we can now declare an official winner of the Olympics: Title IX.
Now over 50 years old, Title IX is a federal law that guarantees equal treatment of men and women in American educational institutions, including in college sports. Before Title IX, schools heavily prioritized men’s athletic programs, with the average university devoting only 2% of athletic budgets to women’s sports. Title IX put an end to that disparity.
The law’s mandates are rigorous. It requires distribution of scholarship dollars proportionally based on participation. Title IX also ensures that as women step onto the field, court, or track, the financial support follows. By tying scholarships to participation, Title IX guarantees funding in a laundry list of other categories: equipment, supplies, practice times, travel, tutoring, coaching, facilities (locker rooms, competitive facilities, medical and training facilities, housing and dining services), publicity and promotions, and recruitment.
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The impact on American college campuses has been significant. When a school plows a massive amount of money into men’s sports, that school must then provide equivalent dollars and facilities to women’s sports. The result is that women’s programs are heavily funded with scholarships and facilities, benefitting numerous women who otherwise would not have a collegiate career. About 40% of all athletic budgets now go to women’s sports, with women making up about 47% of all NCAA Division 1 athletes.
At the 2024 Olympics, Title IX’s impact was stunning. Overall, current or former NCAA student-athletes earned 330 medals. Of this number, women accounted for 58% of all NCAA medalists and 63% of all gold medalists. The highest profile female athletes to earn gold previously trained and competed at NCAA schools: Gabby Thomas (Harvard), Katie Ledecky (Stanford), and Suni Lee (Auburn). Even non-American gold medalists hailed from NCAA schools. Julien Alfred, a sprinter from the University of Texas, brought home the gold for her island nation of St. Lucia in the women’s 100 meters. Vivian Kong, who won fencing gold for Hong Kong, is a graduate of Stanford University.
Despite this measurable success, and international impact on women’s sports, Title IX is under attack from the Biden-Harris Administration.
Since Biden-Harris took over, two parallel Title IX rules have been proposed by the Department of Education. One is a broad change to the definition of “discrimination on the basis of sex” under Title IX, and the other is a change in how schools handle sex-separated athletics. The broader changes to the Title IX regulations were finalized in April of 2024 and went into effect on August 1, 2024. These regulations change the definition of sex discrimination to include discrimination because of gender identity. The separate athletics rule has since stalled.
Both rules undermine sex-specific opportunities and funding. Even though the athletics rule has been paused indefinitely, changing the definition of sex-based discrimination to include “gender identity” arguably means athletic programs must allow men who identify as women to participate in women’s sports and occupy female-only spaces, such as locker rooms. Scholarships once reserved for women are now open to “trans women.” The change in definition of “sex” unravels the original intent of Title IX, threatens the mandate for proportional funding, and undermines decades of progress for women.
But female athletes are not going down without a fight.
Since the Department of Education unveiled its new Title IX rule, a wave of lawsuits — nine to be exact — has challenged the rule, with eight specifically questioning how these rules might reshape school athletics. The Department argues that these broader Title IX regulations should not affect sports. Yet, the lawsuits suggest otherwise, pointing out that the rules apply to any educational program receiving federal funds, a term broad enough to include athletics. They also highlight a loophole in the regulations that could expose schools to liability for gender identity discrimination in sports. Adding fuel to the fire, the Department of Justice has made it clear that they view gender identity discrimination as sex discrimination, signaling that the new regulations could indeed reach into the realm of athletics.
The world saw first-hand what it means when sports abandon clear distinctions between men and women. Two gold medals were won by males in female boxing categories despite both boxers failing gender tests. And with the new Title IX regulations going into effect, it’s possible that American athletics will look a lot like the boxing finals in the Olympics, and a lot like the NCAA Championship swim meet in 2022.
But this new Title IX rule will change more than the outcomes of American athletics on the world stage, it will also change the landscape of safety in locker rooms. Even in a small Wisconsin town, girls are subject to biological males in their bathrooms and locker rooms. In Sun Prairie, freshman girls were exposed to an eighteen-year-old biological male completely nude in their locker room showers because that male claimed, “I’m trans, by the way.”
Women and girls have come too far in athletics to be knocked down to what they were in the early 70s. Changing the definition of sex-based discrimination in Title IX to include gender identity does not make athletics more inclusive; it excludes women and girls who lose out on opportunities and fear for their safety. What’s more, funding and scholarships reserved for women will be given away to men. This isn’t progress—it’s woke politics masquerading as inclusivity.
Dan Lennington and Lauren Greuel are attorneys at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.
