Over the past few years, states went to war with former President Joe Biden’s administration in an effort to protect children from the dangers of radical gender ideology.
The Biden administration was arguably the most anti-child administration in our nation’s history, and America’s children unfortunately paid the price. The arrival of the Trump Administration allows states to have the opportunity to enact common-sense policies without federal blowback.
States spent four years playing defense against Washington in one way or another, facing legal challenges to their laws banning sex-change procedures for minors and suing to prevent Title IX from being rewritten to include gender ideology.
In 2023, Tennessee passed a measure banning sex-change procedures for minors. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the state to overturn the law and was joined by the Biden administration. With President Donald Trump’s administration taking a strong pro-child stance on the issue, states can now enact greater protections for children without fear of retribution from the federal government.
In October, a poll from Noble Predictive Insights and The Center Square indicated that 59% of Americans were against allowing sex-change procedures for children. If states intend to enact more protections for minors, they have a strong mandate to carry out their agenda.
The Biden administration also notoriously attempted to rewrite Title IX to include gender ideology. The intent was to allow men and boys to participate in women’s and girls’ sports and use their restrooms and locker rooms. After the Biden administration released the new Title IX rewrite, 26 states had to expend resources to fight the rule.
After a hard-fought battle, the 26 states were victorious. Biden’s Department of Education made the decision in December to scrap the new Title IX revisions. Then on January 9, a federal judge officially struck down the Title IX changes.
While these were major victories for child safety, these states spent time and resources playing defense that would have been better spent pushing for further protections. With a friendlier administration now in place, states can work to ensure children are protected to a greater extent. New potential protections can start at the school level.
Nearly 21,000 schools with more than 12 million students have policies to keep the transgender identity of students hidden from their parents. Many of these schools are in red states such as Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, and Utah, where most elected officials are pro-child. Considering that a recent poll showed that 75% of parents disagree with these policies, states have broad support to enact protections for both children and parents.
States can also enact more protections for what children learn in schools and for what educators are provided in training. Radical gender ideology does not belong in a classroom or in professional development for those teaching America’s youth.
There have been numerous cases of children being taught radical gender ideology in states such as Wisconsin, Arizona, and Virginia as well as teachers trained in this disturbing ideology in other states such as Missouri, Kentucky, and Michigan. These materials for students and teachers often include absurd lessons that gender is on a spectrum.
With a friendly administration in charge, these states can now pass laws and enact policies to ensure that such indoctrination is no longer allowed in schools. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order establishing that there are only two genders: male and female. The idea that gender exists on a spectrum has no place in a curriculum for any student. Any attempt to push this onto young students is sinister.
The Biden administration’s corrupt Department of Education no longer wields power. States no longer need to fear an overbearing, anti-child administration attempting to reach children with a dangerous ideology. Now is the time for states to ensure that America’s children have ironclad protections for generations to come.
Casey Ryan is a writer and investigative reporter at Parents Defending Education.
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