State board considering proposed Title IX gender identity policies

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State Senator Teresa Fedor is critical of a resolution under consideration by the Ohio State Board of Education that opposes proposed federal regulatory changes to Title IX gender identity policies.
The state board resolution argues the U.S. Department of Education proposals would force schools to grant access to sex-separate restroom and locker room facilities based on gender identity rather than on biological sex, placing girls and women at increased risk of harassment and sexual assault by males who claim a female identity.
Athletics would also come under assault by the proposed regulatory changes, the resolution says, by forcing sports teams to be based on gender identity and, in turn, requiring girls to compete against males for athletic opportunities and scholarships.
Sen. Fedor said the resolution “hides under a very thin veil of ‘supporting families.’”
“The resolution is harassment – full stop,” she said in a prepared statement. “If adopted, our children will be pushed into social isolation, stigmatization, bullying and potentially even self-harm. It will shame children in their own homes and keep them in hiding at school, a place where all students should feel welcome, safe, and accepted for who they are, not for who the board of education tells them to be.”
In June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would interpret the prohibition on sex discrimination in Title IX and the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to include discrimination based on gender identity.
That move could force public and non-profit private schools to choose between adopting gender identity policies or foregoing federal funding for subsidized free or reduced-price meals for students, the state resolution says, noting more than 516,000 students in Ohio qualify for the meals.
Ohio Attorney General David Yost and 21 other state attorneys general have filed a lawsuit to invalidate the agriculture department’s action tying continued receipt of federal nutritional assistance to adopting gender identity policies.
A fact sheet compiled by the U.S. Department of Education says the proposed regulations will “strengthen protections for LGBTQI+ students by clarifying that Title IX’s protections against discrimination based on sex apply to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
The proposals would require schools to treat complainants and respondents equitably.
The resolution by the state board says the appropriate course to pursue for students experiencing symptoms of gender dysphoria is “treatment delivered by parent-selected mental health professionals.”