In a move LGBTQ advocates are calling dangerous and discriminatory, the Trump administration has launched a new Title IX Special Investigations Team, or SIT, to investigate schools for what they describe as “the pernicious effects of gender ideology.” That’s the code for accepting transgender students. The announcement from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education claims a “staggering volume” of Title IX complaints have come in, prompting the creation of this team. Title IX, originally meant to ban sex-based discrimination in schools, has long been interpreted to protect transgender students. But this administration is pushing a narrow, birth-assigned binary view of gender.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi said, “Protecting women and women’s sports is a key priority,” while Education Secretary Linda McMahon added, “To all the entities that continue to allow men to compete in women’s sports and use women’s intimate facilities: there’s a new sheriff in town.” LGBTQ organizations like GLAAD are pushing back hard. Advocates for Trans Equality warned it’s a political stunt that distorts the purpose of Title IX and harms trans youth.
GLSEN’s Melanie Willingham-Jaggers called out the administration for gutting civil rights resources, while Cathryn Oakley of the Human Rights Campaign called it “just the latest episode of the Trump Administration’s obsession with attacking transgender lives.” Queer groups and the community say they will continue to fight, and that trans students are protected by law.
