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Dear John,
On Friday the Supreme Court stripped millions of people of their legal right to abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade. While we are devastated by this decision, we know we can’t ever stop fighting, not just for abortion rights, but across all of the issues that impact the lives of women and girls.
A day before this egregious decision came down, on the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the Department of Education finally proposed new Title IX regulations—almost two years after the harmful, anti-survivor “DeVos rule” went into effect. Under these proposed changes, students would have their civil rights protections against sex discrimination restored.
During the Trump administration, former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made changes to the Title IX regulations that push schools to ignore many reports of sexual harassment and that require student survivors to undergo uniquely burdensome procedures when their schools investigate their sexual harassment complaints—procedures that aren’t required for school investigations of any other type of student or staff misconduct. This is blatant discrimination. Now we have the opportunity to end this injustice. With your support, we can make a real difference in the lives of all students.
The Biden-Harris administration’s proposed rule changes go much further than previous administrations. In addition to protecting the rights of student survivors, the new Title IX regulations will also do the following:
- Codify protections for LGBTQI+ students, including by ensuring that trans students can access spaces in accordance with their gender identity.
- Protect pregnant and parenting students from discrimination and ensure accommodations are in place to support their learning.
The proposed rule changes don’t specifically address athletics; that is supposed to come in a separate rulemaking. However, given the flood of new state laws kicking young people off their school sports teams and demonizing some girls because of who they are or how they look, we also need to urge the Biden-Harris administration to move swiftly on its plan for additional rule changes to ensure all girls and young women have a chance to play school sports, including transgender and intersex students.
Right now, right-wing extremists are fighting tooth and nail across the country to make schools less safe and accessible for all students. Every student deserves to learn in an environment where they know they will be protected and supported. The changes the Biden-Harris administration is proposing will do that—which is why we need you to take action now.
Together, we can make schools safe and welcoming for every student.
Sincerely,
Shiwali Patel
(she/her/hers)
Director of Justice for Student Survivors
National Women's Law Center
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