Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz told school superintendents not to make any changes in response to the Biden Administration’s Title IX expansion, according to a memo sent Wednesday.
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Florida Republicans are vowing to fight the new federal protections.
Governor Ron DeSantis said the added protections would impose gender ideology on students.
“We will not comply. We will fight back. We are not going to let Joe Biden inject women into men’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,” DeSantis said in a video posted to X on Thursday.
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Since 1972, Title IX has banned sex discrimination against students and employees at public institutions that receive federal funding. The Biden Administration announced Friday it is adding to that by banning discrimination against LGBTQ students based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.
UCF Political Science Professor Dr. Aubrey Jewett said the new protections set up a possible conflict with new Florida laws on everything from locker room and bathroom access to classroom instruction on gender and sexual orientation.
“That might come under attack by the federal government and or might be accused of being discriminatory, according to federal government. I say might because they did not specifically say that yet, in this Title IX ruling,” Jewett said.
The state’s fight with the Biden Administration is expected to cause even more confusion among school leaders.
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“The Biden Administration maims the statute beyond recognition in an attempt to gaslight the country into believing that biological sex no longer has any meaning. In doing so, it seeks to commandeer Florida’s education institutions and force them to violate various federal and state laws, including the First Amendment and Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, as well as statutes to protect students’ privacy in bathrooms and locker rooms,” Diaz’s memo to superintendents reads.
Some Florida students like Jen Cousins’ child, who identifies as non-binary, could be caught in the middle with Florida and the Feds fighting over how LGBTQ students are protected.
“Livid! I mean, I’m just outraged beyond all belief. You know, I just don’t understand wanting to make kids suffer, just because you can’t understand what world they’re coming from. You know, it’s, it’s outrageous to me!,” Cousins said, speaking of how her child may not have the same Title IX protections as other students.
This legal battle could play out for months, even years, past when the rule is set to be implemented in August. The rule could be reversed depending on the outcome of the November election.
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