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This article will help you understand what Title IX is and what protections it offers transgender students. Find out more about:
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By FindLaw Staff | Legally reviewed by Kit Spielberger | Last reviewed August 24, 2022
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In 1972, President Nixon signed into law a number of amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965, a federal law enacted to provide funding to colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance to students. These amendments are collectively referred to as the Education Amendments of 1972, with Title IX being perhaps the most well-known and influential federal civil rights law.
This article provides a short overview of Title IX and how it applies to LGBTQ+ and gender nonconforming students. It also discusses recent developments regarding its interpretation.
Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in public schools and other education programs that receive federal funding. Given that the vast majority of schools receive some form of federal funding, Title IX's reach is wide.
Although many people associate Title IX with college and high school athletic programs, the law applies to participation in other extracurricular activities such as school bands and clubs, and it protects students from sex-based discrimination in general.
A transgender person is one who identifies with a gender different from the one marked on his or her birth certificate. For example, a person born as a female, but who identifies as a male, is considered transgender. Students who are transgender face unique difficulties such as sexual violence and appear to be at a far higher risk of suicide than other cisgender students, with some studies showing that roughly half of all transgender students attempt suicide at least once by the age of 20.
In recent years, as the issue of gender identity has become less taboo, there has been discussion regarding how to classify transgender students under the law. For example, there have been lawsuits and other disputes concerning whether Title IX's prohibition against sex discrimination should apply to transgender students, and if so, how.
Although the Biden administration has explicitly stated Title IX protections extend to transgender students and that they will investigate complaints involving transgender students, their policy directives do not yet have the force of law.
However, Joe Biden announced his intention to significantly rewrite Trump-era Title IX regulations in 2022 and plans to include new protections for transgender students in the rewrite, including the right to access school bathrooms that match their gender identity and the right to participate in school sports. These efforts are led by the DoEd's Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.
Many states have also passed laws protecting transgender student rights, often going even further than the Obama-era directives. For example, California passed a law in 2013 allowing a transgender student to use school facilities and to participate in sports teams based on his or her identified gender, regardless of the gender listed on the student's school records.
In the past few years, a number of lawsuits have been filed by transgender students against school districts.
As education policies relating to gender identity continue to be debated, we can expect more disputes and lawsuits over both the federal government's interpretation of Title IX and over state laws that either mirror federal policy or offer protections to transgender students.
If you have questions about Title IX's application to transgender students and discrimination, an attorney can help. An education law attorney can explain Title IX's protections to you, along with any protections that your state may have enacted to ensure transgender equality and ensure that transgender students have equal access to school facilities, opportunities, and functions.
Contact a qualified education attorney to help you navigate education rights and laws.
This article will help you understand what Title IX is and what protections it offers transgender students. Find out more about:
If you need an attorney, find one right now