The Department of Education’s proposed Title IX athletics rule that could strip federal funding from schools that don’t allow athletes to compete based on their gender identity received more than 156,000 statements during the 30-day public comment period.
The proposed rule, which entered the public comment period last month, places restrictions on the ability of schools to require student-athletes to compete based on their biological sex. If schools defy the rule, they could lose federal funds, even as a number of states have passed laws requiring student-athletes to compete based on their biological sex.
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The deluge of comments during the comment period that ended Monday came from a wide range of organizations and groups. A number of gay and transgender advocacy groups praised the rule in submitted comments, including a coalition that included the Trevor Project and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
“The rule as proposed effectively would prohibit any policy restricting the ability of transgender students to participate in school sports in elementary and middle school, and it would permit any such restrictive policies in high school only in rare circumstances and only at highly competitive levels,” the coalition wrote in its comment.
But Nicki Neily, the president of the parent activist group Parents Defending Education, told the Washington Examiner that the sheer number of comments submitted in such a short period of time indicated a wide range of passionate opinions on the proposed regulations.
“The Department of Education only opened the comment period for 30 days (rather than the customary 60-90 days), yet the volume that was generated in such a short period of time actually surpassed the total number of comments submitted for Secretary DeVos’ Title IX rule in 2018,” Neily said. “This highlights how strongly Americans feel about the issue of transgender athletic participation — both for and against — and will be closely watching how the federal government decides to adjudicate this fraught issue.”
Neily’s group submitted a comment that urged the department to abandon the rule in its current form, saying it ignores the biological differences between men and women.
“The Proposed Rule credits ‘fairness’ and ‘safety’ as underlying factors for the urgency of the agency action,” the group wrote. “But the Proposed Rule ignores the biological differences between males and females, forcing females to compete against males, compromising both fairness and safety. This violates the very law — Title IX — the Proposed Rule purports to protect.”
Bob Eitel, the president of the conservative Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies, said the deluge of comments was indicative of a groundswell opposition to the proposed regulation.
“Tens of thousands of parents, athletes, coaches, and others have shown up in droves to oppose this radical rewrite of Title IX,” Eitel said. “We are proud to have helped lead that effort and will continue to fight to preserve Title IX and protect women’s sports.”
Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos told the Washington Examiner on Friday that current secretary Miguel Cardona should withdraw the proposed rule, which she said is “illegal and dangerous” and that thousands of people had made their displeasure with the regulatory proposal known.
“This proposal is anything but a ‘compromise,'” DeVos said. “It’s a diversion intended to distract from their true goal: destroying women’s sports and installing radical gender theory as the law of the land. It takes a certain kind of brazenness to use Title IX, which was passed to protect educational and athletic opportunities for women and girls, to take those very opportunities away. Thankfully, tens of thousands of Americans saw it for what it was and raised their voices in opposition. The public comment period may be over, but the battle is just beginning.”
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Riley Gaines, a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Forum and a former swimmer from the University of Kentucky who swam against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, criticized the proposed rule in a statement following the end of the public comment period.
“The Department’s proposed rule is based on the faulty premise that it is possible to level the playing field when men compete against women,” Gaines said. “The truth is that, in most sports, this is not possible. But even if it were, we must always remember that Title IX is an equal opportunity law, and allowing biological males to take roster spots or playing time from female athletes makes a mockery of that objective.”
