Joe Biden has proposed sweeping changes to Title IX rules that would ban discrimination against transgender students and eliminate the protections that the Trump administration put in place for those accused of sexual harassment and assault.
The Trump-era rules changed the definition of “sexual harassment,” expanded due process rights of students accused of sexual assault, and required schools to hold hearings on assault and harassment cases.
Biden would do away with all of that and add protections for transgender students.
“Our proposed changes would fully protect students from all forms of sex discrimination,” Education Secretary Miguel A. Cardona said during a press conference. The new rules, he said, would “make it clear, those protections include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
New York Times:
The Biden rules expand the definition of what constitutes sexual harassment, and expand the types of episodes, such as incidents reported outside of their educational programming, that schools are obligated to investigate. The rules would also make live hearings optional, no longer a requirement, and allow schools to employ a process that establishes the credibility of the parties and witnesses, though it doesn’t require cross-examination.
But one of the major changes in the Biden rule is the inclusion of sex-based harassment to include, “stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity,” according to the proposed rules.
Fifty years ago on June 23, 1972, Title IX took effect. Its impact has been enormous. But like any major change, there’s an upside and a downside. There’s no doubt that Title IX expanded educational and athletic opportunities for women and girls.
But Title IX has also been used to further radical social change, including denying due process rights to male students accused of sexual harassment or assault. “Always believe the woman” began on college campuses, as the abject unfairness of college disciplinary panels has demonstrated over the years.
Now Biden wants to resurrect those panels, which former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called “kangaroo courts” that denied “presumption of innocence and due process.”
What about transgenders competing in women’s sports?
The issue has become a culture war flashpoint in the last year, as Republican-dominated legislatures in at least 18 states have introduced restrictions on transgender participation in public school sports, and at least a dozen states have passed laws with some restrictions.
“The department recognizes that standards for students participating in male and female athletic teams are evolving in real time,” Dr. Cardona said. “And so we decided to do a separate rule-making on how schools may determine eligibility while upholding Title IX’s nondiscrimination guarantee.”
“I firmly reject efforts to politicize these protections and sow division in our schools,” he added.
Biden apparently didn’t want to take on the issue of transgenders in sports quite yet. But make no mistake; it’s coming.
These sweeping rule changes can be seen as Biden’s ultimate election payoff to the radical feminists. It comes at a hefty price to American justice and constitutional protections.
Source: PJ Media
