Last weekend marked the end of public comment for the Biden administration’s updated Title IX proposal that would allow sex discrimination to include “gender identity.” However, thousands of comments on the rule were reportedly wiped out this week, which the Department of Education called a “clerical error.”
As Townhall has covered, Title IX is a federal civil rights law that prohibits any type of sex-based discrimination in any school or education program the recieves federal funding. The Biden administration’s updated rule would encompass “gender identity” as part of “sex-based discrimination.” “Gender identity” is when an individual identifies with a gender that does not align with their biological sex.
“The Department therefore proposes that the current regulations should be amended to provide greater clarity regarding the scope of sex discrimination, including recipients' obligations not to discriminate based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity,” the updated Title IX proposal states.
Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn (TN) outlined in a letter this week that schools would be prohibited from maintaining separate restrooms, locker rooms and showers for students based on their biological differences under the new rule. She explained that sex is biological that “sex-based discrimination” should not be interpreted to include “gender identity.”
To be clear, sex is biological. Unlike the assertions in the Proposed Rule, “sex” does not “encompass many traits.” Sex is not one’s self-asserted belief about himself or herself based on emotions, preference, self-presentation or behavior. Sex is binary. People are either male or female as demonstrated by their DNA, reproductive biology and other immutable characteristics. The proposed rule’s attempt to expand the definition of sex, while simultaneously neglecting to clearly define what the Department means by such an expansive definition, demonstrates that it is more focused on pushing an ideology rather than protecting individuals from discrimination.
Last week, the published rule had garnered around 350,000 public comments, according to Politico’s weekly education newsletter.
National Catholic Register reported that the over 160,000 public comments vanished on Friday. Officials from the Department of Education told Politico that a “clerical error” had “boosted” the number of comments to the original 350,000.
Wondering why the number of comments on the Biden administration’s #TitleIX rule dropped from 349,177 on Tuesday?
— Bianca Quilantan (@biancaquilan) September 8, 2022
The department found a clerical error with a comment unrelated to the proposed rule that boosted it by 200,000 comments. It's been fixed.
(Here's what I saw on Tues) https://t.co/6WnvUNM4GH pic.twitter.com/O9xIXQWEv5
Sarah Parshall Perry, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies said that the disappearance of the comments is “troubling,” according to NCR.
“The jaw-dropping disparity in the Federal Register’s number of total comments received on the proposed Title IX rule from one day to the next, without explanation or disclaimer, should raise alarm bells for American parents whose children at federally funded schools will receive the direct impact of any finalized rule,” Perry said.
“Whether the sudden loss of nearly 200,000 citizen comments stems from incompetence or obfuscation, the Department of Education has some explaining to do,” she continued.
“One wonders whether if Politico hadn’t prompted the department for a response, the agency would have clarified the disparity at all,” Perry concluded.
In June, I attended a rally in Washington, D.C. commemorating the 50th anniversary of Title IX. The rally surrounded the future of women’s sports, since biological male athletes who identify as transgender have been allowed to compete in women’s sports.
Kara Dansky, author of the book "The Abolition of Sex: How the ‘Transgender’ Agenda Harms Women and Girls," and president of the U.S. chapter of Women's Declaration International, explained to me at the rally how she is a Democrat but is "extremely disappointed" by how the Biden administration is erasing women and girls.
"Speaking solely for myself, I'm a lifelong Democrat. And I'm extremely disappointed in the current administration's attack on women's rights by redefining sex to include gender identity throughout federal administrative law," Dansky said. "It would be a travesty to try to redefine the word 'sex' for Title IX purposes, to include the nebulous, vague, and incoherent concept of gender identity."