Arkansas Leads Legal Challenge Against Biden Administration’s Title IX Changes

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In a move to protect fairness in women’s sports and education, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office announced Tuesday that his office and the Missouri Attorney General’s office are leading a legal challenge against the Biden administration’s recent reinterpretation of Title IX.

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education and in activities that receive federal funding — like school athletic programs.

But the Biden Administration recently released more than 1,500 pages of new rules drastically reinterpreting “sex” under Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Under these rules, public schools could be forced to let biological males compete in women’s sports and use girls’ locker rooms, showers, and changing areas at school.

Attorney General Griffin’s lawsuit alleges that the Biden Administration’s new rule is unconstitutional and threatens female students’ privacy and athletic opportunities.

We have written repeatedly about how women’s athletics is at risk of being erased in America.

In particular, female cyclists, swimmers, powerlifters, sprinters, and others have seen their sports radically changed by biological males who identify and compete as women.

Letting men compete in women’s sports reverses 50 years of advancements for women.

It hampers girls’ abilities to compete for athletic scholarships, and it hurts their professional opportunities as adults.

In some sports, it can even be dangerous.

Fortunately, educators, policymakers, and athletic organizations are taking steps to protect women’s sports.

Last fall the North American Grappling Association clarified its competition policy, saying biological males must compete against other men, regardless of their gender identity.

Earlier this year the professional golf league NXXT Golf announced that only biological females would be eligible to participate in the NXXT Women’s Pro Tour.

And recently the NAIA announced a policy that should prevent male athletes from competing in women’s collegiate sports.

Many states — including Arkansas — have enacted laws that preserve fairness in women’s sports.

In 2021 Arkansas passed Act 461 by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover) preventing male student athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics at school.

This good law protects fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas.

It’s worth point out that public opinion is shifting on this issue, with more Americans agreeing that athletes ought to compete according to their biological sex rather than their gender identity. 

Family Council appreciates Attorney General Tim Griffin and Governor Sanders for standing up against the Biden Administration’s radical reinterpretation of Title IX.

You Can Read The A.G.’s Lawsuit Here.

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Federal Court Continues to Debate Fate of Arkansas’ SAFE Act

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On Monday, attorneys suing to overturn an Arkansas law protecting children from sex-change procedures filed a letter with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The letter cites the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Kadel v. Folwell. The letter argues that laws protecting children from sex-change procedures trigger heightened scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause. It is part of the ongoing lawsuit over Arkansas’ SAFE Act.

In 2021, lawmakers in Arkansas overwhelmingly passed the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act.

The SAFE Act is a good law that prevents doctors in Arkansas from performing sex-change surgeries on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

Unfortunately, the SAFE Act has been tied up in court for more than two years. However, federal appeals courts have let similar laws go into effect in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama.

Sex-change surgeries and procedures can leave children sterilized and scarred for life.

Researchers do not know all the long-term effects these procedures can have on children, but a growing body of scientific evidence shows children should not be subjected to sex-change procedures, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones.

Not long after Arkansas passed the SAFE Act, a major hospital in Sweden announced that it would no longer give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to kids.

Since then, the U.K. has joined a growing list of jurisdictions that protect children from puberty blockers, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has added a warning label to puberty blockers after discovering they caused some biological girls to experience swelling in the brain.

Over the past three years, reports from Europe and elsewhere have shown time and again that Arkansas was right to pass the SAFE Act. Today about half the states in the U.S. have passed laws protecting children from sex-change surgeries.

We believe our courts ultimately will recognize that the SAFE Act is a good law and uphold it as constitutional.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Gov. Sanders Signs Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports in Arkansas

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On Thursday Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an executive order designed to protect female athletes in Arkansas.

The executive order opposes the Biden administration’s effort to redefine “sex” in federal Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

The governor’s executive order says, “Title IX was passed to protect women, not harm them . . . The Biden administration is attempting to unilaterally rewrite federal law to advance its radical gender ideology against women and girls.”

The executive order notes that redefining “sex” in Title IX unfairly lets men compete in women’s sports; it lets them use girls’ showers, locker rooms, and bathrooms at school; and it will let men and compete for women’s scholarships.

The order concludes,

1. It is declared to be the policy of this state that sex is an immutable characteristic of the human body, rooted in biology and the created order. The government should celebrate, not erase, sex differences by providing proper protections for them. 

2. The educational institutions of Arkansas will continue to enforce state law guaranteeing the right of students to maintain their privacy. Students must not be forced to shower or undress with members of the opposite sex. 

3. Female students must not be denied equal athletic opportunities or forced to risk their safety by having biological males placed into female-designated sports leagues. 

4. Students and employees of Arkansas’ educational institutions may not be forced to use false pronouns. The right to refuse to speak a lie is guaranteed in the First Amendment. My administration will continue to protect this fundamental right. 

5. All accused individuals must be given robust, traditional due process rights if they are accused of harassment under the Biden Title IX Amendment. 

6. The Arkansas Department of Education is ordered to provide specific guidance on how to enforce the rights of Arkansans to equal opportunity, free speech, due process, and privacy under the U.S. Constitution, Title IX, and state law, despite the Biden administration’s unlawful administrative rule. At no point should Arkansas law be ignored. 

Family Council supports Governor Sanders’ executive order. As we have said time and again, women’s athletics is at risk of being erased in America.

In particular, female cyclists, swimmers, powerlifters, sprinters, and others have seen their sports radically changed by male athletes who compete as women.

Letting men compete in women’s sports reverses 50 years of advancements for women.

It hampers girls’ abilities to compete for athletic scholarships, and it hurts their professional opportunities as adults.

In some sports, it can even be dangerous.

Many states — including Arkansas — have enacted laws that preserve fairness in women’s sports.

In 2021 Arkansas passed Act 461 by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover) preventing male student athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics at school. This good law protects fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas.

We appreciate Gov. Sanders’ willingness to stand up for women and girls by opposing the Biden Administration’s radical effort to redefine “sex” in Title IX.

You Can Read The Governor’s Executive Order Here.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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