CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and 17 other state AGs have sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona challenging the Biden administration’s proposed changes to Title IX.
The proposal would change the definition of “sex” to include gender identity. The coalition emphasized that the logic of this reinterpretation could destroy women’s sports.
The Title IX federal statute was signed into law on June 23, 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government.
Morrisey
“This short and simple law demands that girls and women get their fair share of opportunities in education and Title IX’s regulations make it clear that this could be accomplished in school athletic programs by having ‘separate teams for members of each sex,’” Morrisey said. “Protecting these opportunities is important — when biological males win in a women’s event, women or girls are denied their opportunity to shine.”
“The Biden administration’s insistence on redefining sex in Title IX ignores science,” Morrisey joined in the letter, which was sent on the 40th anniversary of Title IX being signed into law. “In so doing, it could walk back decades of progress for women in sports.”
West Virginia joined this Indiana- and Montana-led letter with Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.