Correcting the record on new Title IX regulations

This letter to the editor, by Celeste Koeberl, appeared in the Hudson Star Observer on August 24, 2024.

Some people are spreading misinformation—based on mistaken beliefs and fears—about Title IX regulations that took effect on August 1, 2024.

Instead, let’s base our discussions about the new Title IX regulations and their application in our Hudson School District on factually and legally accurate information, including that:

Our US Constitution does not yet guarantee equal rights to women and girls, because the Equal Rights Amendment has not yet been adopted; that’s why we need the federal 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. 

Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. The Biden administration has promulgated Title IX regulations that define the term "on the basis of sex" as prohibiting “discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.” 

This definition was established by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) four years ago—in an opinion written by conservative Justice Neil M. Gorsuch who was appointed by former President Trump—when SCOTUS ruled it was illegal under the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s prohibition of job discrimination on the basis of sex to fire employees or not hire them because of their sexual orientation or gender identity (Bostock v. Clayton County).

The new Title IX regulations do not apply to school sports and athletic competitions. Those issues will be considered in separate federal regulations, sometime later.

Unless stayed by a court, the new Title IX regulations are legally binding and enforceable. 

On August 16, 2024, SCOTUS refused to lift the lower court orders that have blocked the new Title IX regulations in 26 states, but Wisconsin is not one of those states; that vote was 5 to 4, with Justice Gorsuch joining the dissent by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson.

The new Title IX regulations remain in effect in states that did not challenge them, including in Wisconsin.

Public comments at our Hudson School Board meetings should be informed by accurate understandings of these facts and law. 

CLICK HERE for information, including meeting dates, of the Hudson School Board