Do Not Comply, Fight!
April 30, 2024, Update:
April 29, 2024 | Washington, D.C.
by Kristen A. Ullman, President, Eagle Forum
States Sue Over Orwellian Redefinition of Sex
“DO NOT COMPLY. FIGHT” This is the advice of former Fox News journalist, now podcaster, Megyn Kelly, in response to the Biden Administration’s rewrite of Title IX that radically changes both the definition of sex and the protections for females at the heart of the civil rights statute. Despite hundreds of thousands of comments submitted against the proposed regulation, the Department of Education finalized the Orwellian redefinition of sex to include self-proclaimed “gender identity.” This change will transform our schools, place all women and girls at risk, and infringe on American’s constitutional rights. Thankfully, many states and organizations are already fighting back.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis released a video on Twitter in which he made clear, “Florida rejects Joe Biden‘s attempt to rewrite Title IX. We will not comply, and we will fight back. We are not going to let Joe Biden try to inject men into women’s activities. We are not going to let Joe Biden undermine the rights of parents and we are not going to let Joe Biden abuse his constitutional authority to try to impose these policies on us here in Florida. … We are not going let Biden get away with it. We will not comply.”
Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. sent a letter to each superintendent in the state emphasizing that, “at Governor Ron DeSantis’ direction, no educational institution should begin implementing any changes,” to comply with the new regulation that “maims the statute beyond recognition.” Diaz called the new rule an attempt to “gaslight the country into believing that biological sex no longer has any meaning.”
The state of Louisiana is also refusing to comply. On April 29, 2024, Governor Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill announced that the State of Louisiana and the Louisiana Department of Education have filed a lawsuit against federal officials. Attorney General Murrill described the threats by the Biden Administration to withhold federal funding — including funding for school lunches — from states that do not adhere to the new regulation as a “gun to the head.” She went on to say that the Title IX changes aim to “remake American societal norms through our classrooms, lunchrooms, bathrooms and locker rooms.” The governor promised his office would fully support the legal action. “We will not comply. …This fight is right. The object of this fight is to ensure that we protect women, and we protect women’s sports,” he said.
In Oklahoma, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters sent a letter to all local school districts urging them not to comply. “Please do not make any district policy changes based on the new Title IX regulations. … I believe these rule changes are illegal and unconstitutional.” Walters clarified the impact of expanding the definition of sex to include “gender identity”: “This re-definition could prohibit single-sex extra-curriculars, including athletics, scholarship programs, locker rooms, bathrooms, and any other activity or space that is exclusive to one sex. Additionally, these rules could turn the act of not using preferred pronouns into a Title IX violation, which would be a clear violation of the First Amendment.”
South Carolina Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver, who was endorsed by Eagle Forum PAC in her election, has also communicated a warning to schools that implementing the revised regulations could violate federal law. “By redefining the class of people that Title IX intends to protect, the Biden administration’s rule seeks to change the meaning and purpose of the underlying law. Therefore, we recommend districts not implement the new rule at this time. It is possible — even likely — that a court will enjoin the rule prior to its effective date.” She correctly pointed out that the regulation reverses decades of advancement for women and girls by putting them at a “disadvantage in the educational arena.”
It isn’t just southern states that are coming out against the mutilation of Title IX. Wyoming State Superintendent Megan Degenfelder stated, “I oppose the recently proposed rule change to Title IX regulations. . . I will fight back against this federal overreach… and work to partner with my counterparts across the country to stand up to the Biden administration’s harmful regulations.”
States are not alone in the fight. On the same day that Louisiana filed its lawsuit, the Independent Women’s Forum filed a suit joined by Parents Defending Education, Speech First, and the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. Riley Gaines, former University of Kentucky All-American swimmer said in the press release: “Women and men are equal, but we are not the same. Sex does not equal gender identity, but according to the Biden administration’s illegal and discriminatory new Omnibus Title IX rule, it is perfectly acceptable to strip away the sole purpose of Title IX — to provide equal opportunity for women under the law. Now, protections meant for women under the country’s landmark sex equality law have been eliminated. I have no doubt that we will not only win this lawsuit but also expose how anti-woman this president and his administration truly are.”
In addition, Alliance Defending Freedom President Kristen Waggoner, threatened a lawsuit in a post on X (Twitter), “Under these rule changes, privacy, safety, parental rights, free speech, and — yes — women’s sports are at risk. This is an abuse of federal power that is anti-women, anti-science, and anti-logic. See you in court, @POTUS.” On their website, they pledged, “to take action to defend female athletes, as well as school districts, teachers, and students who will be gravely harmed by this unlawful government overreach.”
DO NOT COMPLY needs to be the rallying cry of every mom and dad, every woman and man in America! We must unite against the radical redefinition of ‘sex’ and fight to protect the educational, athletic, and privacy rights of our daughters. The Biden Administration needs to know that destroying opportunities for women and girls is not fair. Every state, school district, college, and individual needs to fight against this madness. DO NOT COMPLY!