More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Title IX was passed in 1972 and prohibits sex (and pregnancy, gender identity or sexual orientation) discrimination in any higher education institution receiving federal funding. It guaranteed equal opportunities in sports for women and girls in higher education. It also provided resources and protections against sexual harassment and sexual assault.
The Justice Department went to the U.S. Supreme Court this week in defense of the Biden administration’s new Title IX sex discrimination rule that includes transgender protections—arguing strongly that the logic of the rule is “compelled” by the Court’s ruling in Bostock.
The rule, issued under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, is set to go into effect on Aug. 1.
This year marks the 52nd anniversary of Title IX, a landmark civil rights law that has transformed the landscape of U.S. education. The Biden-Harris administration’s new Title IX regulations, set to take effect Aug. 1, represent a significant step toward acknowledging and addressing the unique challenges faced by student who face discrimination and sexual violence, especially female, LGBTQ+ and pregnant or parenting students. But Republicans hope to block these Title IX revisions and revert them back to the restrictive Trump-era Title IX guidelines.
In this historic election year, with President Biden stepping down from the presidential campaign and Vice President Kamala Harris stepping up as the new candidate, the stakes are even higher.
One of the Court’s most significant decisions of 2024 was Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. In a reversal of 40 years of precedent, courts—not agencies—will have the last word on interpreting federal law.
In her Loper dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote: “In every sphere of current or future federal regulation, expect courts from now on to play a commanding role.” Kagan’s dissent raises the specter of judges across the country—not doctors or scientists or educators, nor even politicians, who at least must answer to the public—playing a “commanding role” in reproductive rights policy.
On April 19, the Biden administration released new Title IX guidelines that increase protections for assault victims, LGBTQ+ students, and pregnant students by providing schools more flexibility in how they conduct investigations.
Almost three months later, on July 10, House Republicans passed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution—House Joint Resolution 165—that would block the Biden administration’s Title IX revisions and revert them back to the restrictive Trump-era Title IX guidelines.
The state of Texas does not believe its arsenal of antiabortion laws has done enough to strip pregnant people of control over their bodies.
Represented by antiabortion warrior Attorney General Ken Paxton, Texas is suing the Biden administration in a challenge to the Title IX claim that abortion-related discrimination is prohibited sex discrimination. Two professors from the University of Texas-Austin—John Hatfield, a professor of finance, and Daniel Bonevac, a philosophy professor—subsequently joined the suit as named plaintiffs.
At its core, this case is about the surveillance and control of the sexual and reproductive lives of students, and the chillingly privileged view that professors are somehow entitled to this measure of control over students’ lives based upon their own views about abortion.
There’s so much at stake in the 2024 presidential elections, including the rights of women and LGBTQ people. President Biden has been a longstanding advocate for women’s right to be free from violence.
On the other hand, Republicans are pledging to eliminate Title IX protections against sex-based discrimination and sexual violence. The difference is clear.
In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.
This week: Trump convicted of 34 felony charges; President Biden officially recognizes Pride Month; a new law criminalizes medication abortion in Louisiana; Meghan Markle reflects on Ms.; the first Professional Women’s Hockey League championship; Mexico elected their first woman president; and more.
Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s opinion piece in The New York Times on Harvey Weinstein’s appeal offers an excellent opportunity to interrogate the larger systems in the U.S. that enable violence against women. But Vance’s article excluded a critical piece of the story: his decision not to press charges against Weinstein in 2015 after Ambra Battilana Gutierrez presented a recording of Weinstein admitting to groping her breast.
Women who experience sexual and physical violence are often criticized for delays in reporting. But if institutional inaction and underhandedness are more common responses than not when women do report, then why would they?
In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.
This week: the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on emergency abortion care and criminalizing homelessness; new EEOC and Title IX regulations protect sexual violence survivors, pregnant people and the LGBTQ community; Arizona repealed their 1864 abortion ban, while Florida now has a six-week ban; birth control misinformation goes viral on TikTok; the United Methodist Church repealed their ban on LGBTQ clergy; the chilling effects of the global gag rule; three in five Americans support a national law protecting access to medication abortion; and more.
The United States Department of Education released its much-anticipated amendments to the existing Title IX regulations—which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity that receives federal financial assistance.
The amendments make substantial changes to the existing Title IX regulations. Experts anticipate these new changes will result in an increase in the number of Title IX complaints, since they broaden the protections of Title IX. The Education Department is requiring all schools implement the new 2024 regulations by Aug. 1.
Here are nine significant changes to Title IX that interested parties in higher education should know.