The Biden administration is trying to have it both ways on transgender participation in women’s sports with new Title IX rules introduced Thursday. The White House aims to put the burden on schools with rules rooted in biology to prove their case on male athlete bans from female leagues while theoretically allowing them to maintain such rules, giving the president a talking point 18 months from an election.
Under the long-anticipated proposal, the Department of Education outlined new guidelines that would invalidate bans on men in women’s sports currently implemented across 20 states. At the same time, schools that receive federal funding and therefore subject to Title IX stipulations may bar male athletes on female teams in competitive leagues.
“Every student should be able to have the full experience of attending school in America, including participating in athletics, free from discrimination,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a press release. “Being on a sports team is an important part of the school experience for students of all ages.”
The Title IX amendments mandate schools evaluate a strict set of criteria before barring transgender-identified athletes from participation in leagues contrary to their biological gender. School rules must be “substantially related to the achievement of an important educational objective” and must “minimize harms to students whose opportunity to participate on a male or female team consistent with their gender identity would be limited or denied.”
“Fairness in competition may be particularly important for recipients in some sports, grade and education levels,
