AG Brenna Bird joins lawsuit challenging Biden administration’s Title IX rules

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said Tuesday her office is joining a lawsuit against the Biden administration over new Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students.

The lawsuit challenges new Title IX rules issued by the U.S. Department of Education that are set to go into effect Aug. 1. The new rules on the law, primarily dealing with sex-based discrimination, were clarified to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ+ students on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

The news release from the Bird’s office states the “new gender ideology mandate tears down more than 50 years of landmark protections for girls in preschool through college.”

The new rule could result in a loss of funding for states that have passed laws related transgender students — potentially including a 2023 Iowa law requiring people only use school bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding with their designated gender at birth.

The lawsuit, led by Arkansas and Missouri, argues that the Biden administration is preempting state laws, and alleges that the new language will “silence and threaten with investigation any student, faculty member, or administrator who doesn’t share the Department’s view of sex” and harm the privacy of women’s accommodations in educational spaces.

Bird said in a news release that the measure will harm women and girls.

“Biden is destroying a long tradition of protecting girls in schools,” she said. “With Biden’s radical gender ideology mandate, he has not only robbed young women of the opportunity to safely compete and succeed in the sports they love, he has violated their privacy. No schoolgirl should be forced to change next to or share shower spaces with boys. I am suing to stop Biden’s war on women and protect girls in schools.”

The lawsuit could also have an impact on state laws that prohibit transgender women from competing in women’s sports at schools. In 2022, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law banning transgender women and girls’ from competing as members of women’s teams at K-12 schools, public and community colleges, as well as colleges and universities that are a part of national athletic associations.

According to the Associated Press, the Biden administration considered a measure, as one part of Title IX, that would prohibit bans on transgender students from competing in women’s sports. However, the finalized rules do not mention transgender student athletes.

In a news release Monday, Reynolds said she asked the attorney general’s office to take court action on the “outrageous rule that attempts to use federal funds to force our communities to ignore parental rights, due process, free speech, and protected intimate spaces.”

“By attempting to redefine sex to include gender identity and sexual orientation in Title IX, President Biden is marginalizing girls and women,” Reynolds said in a statement. There are undeniable and important biological differences between males and females. It’s a fact that cannot be denied, no matter how inconvenient it is for the president during an election year. While he caves to the radical left, I will continue to protect the rights of women of all ages. We already have laws on the books to do that.”

The new directives from the Department of Education also overturn those established by former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos during the Trump administration, which added new protections for students accused of sexual misconduct. President Joe Biden committed to ending this Title IX provision during his 2020 presidential campaign.