2022 | Week of September 12 | Radio Transcript #1481

In June the Biden-administration Department of Education issued the unofficial version of proposed rule changes related to Title IX, a federal program authorized in 1972 to basically equalize the educational and athletic opportunities for men and women. As currently in force, Title IX uses the word sex to refer to the biological reality of male and female, which is ultimately determined by the immutable, inherent chromosome structure given at the moment of conception. Males have XY sex chromosomes and females have XX chromosomes. That’s basic biology. In other words, that’s real science.

However, never ones to let biological realities and scientific truth deter them, the liberal progressives in Biden’s administration have turned Title IX upside down. In fact, it’s fair to say they are wanting to weaponize this federal program that over the years has allowed women in particular to compete in athletic events and teams, even earning scholarships to play on collegiate teams.

By weaponizing, I’m referring to the fact that the proposed rule changes threaten to remove federal funding for public K-12 schools, as well as for colleges and university that take any public monies, if they don’t comply with the new provisions. This, of course, includes every public school district in Wisconsin and the entire UW-System at a minimum.

This 700-page document is filled with changes of terms and redefinitions. Probably the most significant example of this is the redefinition, or as some would say, the expansion of the definition of the word sex to mean “to include “sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”^[1]

Since Title IX was originally designed to stop, in large part, discrimination against women in education, this redefinition is extremely dangerous because should this policy receive final approval and be enacted and enforced, allegations of discrimination would no longer be restricted to the historical, traditional, and biological truth of sex meaning a biological male or biological female. Under these proposed regulations a person could be accused of discriminating against someone based on any of these “expansions,” with “gender identity” being especially noteworthy.

We learned earlier this year just how this type of regulation might be enforced in a K-12 school. Remember the three eighth-grade middle school boys in Kiel who didn’t use the pronouns a classmate wanted them to use, and the school accused the boys of sexual harassment? Fortunately, persistent parents represented by Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, challenged the school and pointed out that the rights that had been violated were the Free Speech rights of the three young men and not the student who was struggling with gender identity issues. Eventually, with the threat of a lawsuit, the school district backed down—but that was before these proposed regulations were made public in late June.

To summarize the impact of these proposed Title IX regulations, suffice it to say they are on a collision course with parental rights, threaten religious freedom and freedom of speech, jeopardize girls’ and women’s educational and athletic opportunities, puts girls in dangerous situations with requiring schools to allow biological males in girls’ and women’s restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms, normalizes gender identity ideology and thereby threatens the well-being of children. Should the proposed changes be adopted, they have the force of law.

The period for public comments is done, but there was great interest from the public with originally over 380,000 comments. Apparently about 160,000 of those comments are gone with no explanation.^[2]

I close with two thoughts: first, parents, if your children attend a public school, you need to be aware that in all likelihood these proposed changes will be approved and enforced in the school your child attends. Hopefully, forewarned is forearmed. Second, these dangerous proposals come from people who were appointed by President Biden, illustrating again that elections really do have consequences. “We the people” need to be wise, prayerful, knowledgeable, and responsible as we vote in every election. Our children, our freedoms, our faith, our values are all at stake.

This is Julaine Appling for Wisconsin Family Council reminding you the prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

^[1]https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/t9nprm.pdf, p. 5. Accessed September 11, 2022.

^[2]https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/09/10/biden-education-department-declines-to-explain-160000-missing-public-comments-on-redefining-sex-in-title-ix/comments-on-redefining-sex-in-title-ix/. Accessed Sept. 11, 2022.