Florida is vowing to fight the Biden administration’s radical changes to Title IX.
The new Title IX regulations, which are being interpreted as promoting gender confusion, will not be embraced in the Sunshine State, according to a letter penned by Manny Diaz Jr., the Florida Commissioner on Education.
“On Friday, April 19, 2024, the United States Department of Education released a final rule making significant changes to the regulations implementing Title IX,” he wrote in the letter to superintendents and charter school leaders, noting that Title IX is a “relatively short, straightforward anti-discrimination statute” providing that “[n]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
“The rule will not take effect until August 1, 2024. Florida will fight this. At Governor Ron DeSantis’ direction, no educational institution should begin implementing any changes,” Diaz wrote in the letter, contending that President Joe Biden’s administration “maims the statute beyond recognition in an attempt to gaslight the country into believing that biological sex no longer has any meaning.” This attempt, he continued, would force educational institutions in the Sunshine State to violate federal and state laws, including the First Amendment and the state’s Parental Rights in Education Act.
The letter continues:
In Florida, we respect parents’ rights to direct their children’s education. We protect our students’ safety and privacy. And we make sure every student is given the chance to thrive on and off campus. We will keep pressing to accomplish these goals. As legal challenges unfold, and the Department has the opportunity to analyze this rule, I will release guidance on how to implement it in a way that is consistent with our goal to keep Florida #1 in education.
Indeed, the new regulations use the term “gender identity” rather than biological sex to describe certain actions, thereby not only promoting but forcing the embrace of transgender ideology. As Breitbart News explained, “The new rules announced last week define sex discrimination as discrimination based on gender identity as well as sexual proclivities, and schools cannot separate people based on sex.”
Further, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona told activists that school officials would be forced to use the preferred pronouns of students.
“These regulations make it crystal clear that no one should have to abandon their educational aspirations due to discrimination, whether it’s based on pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other sex-based factors,” Cardona reportedly said.