by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News May 2, 2024
Insisting that transgender students have been “under attack in our country,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona defended the newly instituted Team Biden policy which allows biological males to the use women’s bathrooms and locker rooms.
During a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing on Tuesday to review the FY2025 budget request for the Department of Education, Cardona presented no evidence that transgender students are actually under attack, but accused those critical of the Biden team’s re-writing of Title IX as “trying to create division.”
The Title IX change, which could take effect Aug. 1, redefines the word “sex” to include gender identity.
Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith said that curtailing girls’ safe spaces could push many of them to give up on athletics.
“Do you agree that they’re eliminating those safe spaces when they allow transgenders to choose the bathroom and the locker room that they want to go in?” Hyde-Smith asked Cardona.
“Senator, we cannot pick and choose which students we want to protect,” Cardona replied. “All students deserve protection in our schools and what this Title IX rule does is ensure that all students including our LGBTQI students are protected.”
Hyde-Smith asked: “So when a biological male goes into the locker room with biological females, you think that is a safe space for those young girls?”
Cardona replied: “When girls walk into bathrooms, that’s — you may not be recognizing students that are transgender, but because you don’t recognize them does not mean I don’t protect them.”
Hyde-Smith tried again: “But biological males going into a girls’ locker room and a girls’ bathroom, you have no problem with that whatsoever and you consider them being safe in all circumstances?”
“The line of questioning is trying to create division,” Cardona answered, adding that the new rule is intended to help students who “unfortunately historically in our country have been under attack.”
Hyde-Smith countered: “No one is attacking anyone right now. We’re talking about school safety in girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms.”
Cardon a replied: “I’m not saying you’re attacking them, I’m saying they’re under attack in this country.”
Hyde-Smith also questioned Cardona on parental rights under the sweeping final Title IX rule, which eliminates due process protections on campus, changes definitions of sexual harassment, and merges sex with gender identity.
Hyde-Smith said the rule, among other things, will:
• Prohibit discrimination “on the basis of sex” but the proposed rule extends that protection to gender identity and sexual orientation, essentially legislating through regulation.
• Require K-12 schools to ignore a student’s biological sex and to accept a child’s choice of gender identity without the approval of the child’s parents.
• Define sexual harassment so broadly that schools will be forced to discipline teachers, staff, and students for using the wrong pronouns.
• Jeopardize all federal funds a school or district receives for not complying with Title IX regulations.
The Biden rule changes are being challenged on multiple fronts, including by states like Mississippi.
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