Carr Demands Biden Administration Abandon Efforts to Weaken Antidiscrimination Protections for Students, Female Athletes

ATLANTA, GA – Attorney General Chris Carr has joined 14 attorneys general to demand the Biden administration abandon its efforts to rewrite Title IX and redefine biological sex to include gender identity. Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in educational programs or activities and applies to schools, colleges and universities that receive federal financial assistance. The Biden administration's reported rewrite of Title IX regulations would impact the integrity of women's sports and potentially the process for addressing allegations of sexual harassment on college campuses.

"The Biden administration is threatening to upend historic antidiscrimination regulations to impose its social politics on our students and effectively weaken equal opportunity for women in sports," said Carr.

"This reported proposal has no cause other than the President's own motivation to appease a small minority intent on destroying commonsense provisions that protect female athletes and allow for due process on college campuses. Should this administration move forward with its inexplicable plans, we will not hesitate to defend Georgia's students from a politically-motivated policy that further divides our nation.”

Education policy experts, civil rights leaders, public interest attorneys, women’s groups and parent advocates have also requested that the Biden administration disband its efforts to weaken Title IX rules.

In a letter sent to U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary Catherine Lhamon, the 15 attorneys general write, “One of Title IX’s crucial purposes, for example, is protecting athletic opportunity for women and girls. Adding gender identity to the definition of ‘sex’ in Title IX would have a detrimental effect on the great strides made over the last 50 years to create equal athletic opportunity... We are prepared to take legal action to uphold Title IX’s plain meaning and safeguard the integrity of women’s sports.”

In 2020, the U.S. Department of Education adopted into law for the first time regulations regarding sexual harassment under Title IX. The current rules require schools to promptly respond to allegations of sexual harassment, guarantee strong procedural rights for victims and the accused, and offer important new protections and benefits for victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault. These regulations also address the immense challenges created under Obama-era rules, which resulted in hundreds of successful lawsuits filed against schools for denying basic due process and widespread criticism from across the ideological spectrum. 

Now, the Biden administration intends to roll back these historic measures to impose its agenda on students, parents, teachers and schools across the country. 

The attorneys general further state, “We are also concerned that an interpretation of Title IX that goes beyond sex to include gender identity has and will be used by to improperly intrude into parental decision-making regarding the education and upbringing of their children. An interpretation of Title IX that supports such radical positions runs contrary to the role of the Department of Education, the text of Title IX, and parents’ constitutional right to decide what is in the best interests of their children.”

In addition to Carr, the attorneys general from the following states have also joined in signing the letter: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas. 

In August 2021, Carr joined 19 attorneys general in filing suit to stop Biden administration guidance that purports to resolve highly controversial and localized issues, such as whether schools must allow biological males to compete on girls’ sports teams and whether employers and schools may maintain sex-separated showers and locker rooms.

Read the coalition letter  here .