If policymakers in Republican states want a model for confronting the Biden administration’s lawless attempt to impose gender theory on schools, they should look no further than Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters.
The Washington Examiner reported Wednesday that Walters published a letter instructing district superintendents throughout the state to defy the Biden administration’s new regulation on Title IX, which redefines the term “sex” to include gender identity.
“Please do not make any district policy changes based on the new Title IX regulations,” Walters wrote in the letter. “These federal rule changes are illegal and making policy changes before the courts come to a definitive ruling on the legality of these rules could put your district out of compliance with other current and legal state and federal statutes. Our agency is here to assist you with any legal or policy support you may need regarding these rules.”
In confronting the administration’s lawless regulation, Walters is offering an example for other state education leaders to follow. The new regulations are a dangerous attack on the foundation of Title IX, which ensures that sex-based discrimination does not occur in schools.
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By redefining “sex” to include gender identity, the Biden administration and the Department of Education have declared legal war against sex-separate spaces such as bathrooms and athletic programs, all in service of the transgender lobby. This dangerous approach will penalize schools that do not allow biological males to use women’s bathrooms, provided they say the magic words, “I identify as a woman.”
This has profound safety implications for women and girls who could be forced to share locker rooms with men. Walters is right to stand up for their safety. The stakes of this fight are too great, and to simply allow the Biden administration to enforce this lawless regulation will have profoundly damaging consequences. Republican officials in other states should follow his lead.