Ohio lawmakers challenge Title IX rules protecting LGBTQ+ students

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Lawmakers at the Ohio Statehouse are urging the Biden administration to reverse an expansion of Title IX that includes protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Title IX changes are set to go into effect on Aug. 1, and include a provision that would prohibit schools from not allowing a transgender student to use a bathroom aligned with their gender identity.

Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) argues that amendments are "a reinterpretation, a misinterpretation of Title IX nine." However, Rep. Joe Miller (D-Amherst) said he thinks "one of the things that the Biden administration is trying to do is make sure that everybody's individual freedoms and rights are protected, regardless of who you are."

While Ohio is not home to a law governing bathroom use, House Bill 183 is awaiting a floor vote and would prohibit schools from allowing trans students to use a bathroom that doesn’t correspond with the gender assigned to them at birth.

"The plain reading of the law is clear: if you have XX chromosomes, you're a girl, if you have XY chromosomes, you're a boy," Bird argues. Miller said he is "saddened that, here in 2024, that we just can't find a way to support each other as human beings."

If schools violate Title IX, they risk losing federal funding. In 2023, Ohio received more than $5.2 billion in funding from The U.S. Department of Education. That is one reason why Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, along with several others, is challenging the new language in court.

"The Department of Education is putting our schools in a bind between following state law and following this misinterpretation," Bird said. That is why both Bird and Senator Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware) have introduced a resolution to urge the reversal of the language. The House version of the resolution awaits a number, but Brenner took the charge on Senate Concurrent Resolution 11.

"Basically, calling on the Biden administration to reverse their decision on Title IX where they have broadened the definition of what a male and female are," Brenner said. "Which, to me, flies in the face of the original law that was introduced and signed into 52 years ago."

"We do owe it to all Ohioans to make sure that we’re trying to make government work for them, and this bill doesn’t do it," Miller said.

Ohio also has a law, that is currently held up in court, to ban trans athletes from playing on teams that align with their gender identity. The Biden administration's Title IX language does not address trans athletes, but Brenner said he the changes could still be used to negate the measure.

"There's definitely a concern that our law will be invalidated at the federal level because of the Biden administration's interpretation of Title IX," Brenner said.

The lawsuit also says the final rule would pre-empt Ohio's laws governing athletics, causing "irreparable harm to the State of Ohio’s sovereign lawmaking authority." Brenner said it is important that federal law backs up, or at least does not contradict, what Ohio has passed.

"I think in higher [education] it is becoming an issue and it is expanding,” Brenner said. “We need to protect women in their sports.”

“Tight now currently in Ohio there is a system in place that keeps equity and fairness in sports,” Miller said. “There is so much more to be gained in sports and in competition and in teamwork than just getting a win and making sure that a transgender person doesn’t win the competition. We know that is such a rare, small number across the United States, let alone in Ohio.”

Schools have until the Title IX changes go into effect to file a complaint. The resolutions urging a reversal of the new language at the Statehouse await their first committee hearings.

"It is unfortunate that this is where we put our focus, attacking the most vulnerable individuals in our society for political points," Miller said.

"You’re redefining definitions which have been long standing definitions and they’re doing it for basically political purposes and they’re not doing it for what’s in the best interest of the kids," Brenner said