Ohio BOE votes to send measure to reject Title IX amendment to executive committee

COLUMBUS — Thursday morning, Ohio’s Board of Education said it needs more time to talk about a controversial resolution involving Title IX.

Wednesday, it spent more than eight hours discussing a resolution that would challenge changes to Title IX protections.

The board voted 12-7 to send the measure to the committee, essentially tabling the issue.

Title IX is a federal law that has banned discrimination based on sex in school since 1972. On June 23, the U.S. Board of Education proposed an expansion to Title IX to include protection for students who face discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

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An Ohio Board of Education member Brendan Shea recently introduced a four-page resolution that opposes the Biden Administration’s expansion to Title IX. It said that the law originally protects students from being discriminated against based on sex from a physiological standpoint, meaning sex assigned at birth.

Attorney James Knapp, Chair of the Board of Directors for Trans Ohio, disagrees with that resolution.

“It has been interpreted since the ‘90s and beyond to include LGBTQ students and more specifically, more lately, trans students and nonbinary students,” Knapp said.

Shea wrote in his resolution that “denying the reality of biological sex destroys foundational truths upon which education rests and irreparably damages children.”

“There is a big disconnect in the community at large still between what it means to be transgender and what that means for schools,” Knapp said.

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The resolution would stop transgender students from using the bathroom and locker room of the gender they identify with. It would also stop them from being allowed to try out the sports teams that reflect their gender identity.

Shea said the U.S. Department of Education’s changes would “require sports teams to be based on gender identity rather than biological sex, forcing biological women and girls to compete on an unfair basis against biological males for athletic opportunities and scholarships.”

Knapp called called Shea’s resolution “unconstitutional on its face and it’s also unconscionable.

Kanpp also said that the state could lose federal education funds if they are found in violation of Title IX.

The board did not set a date for when there will be further discussion or a vote on the issue.

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