Title IX Complaint Filed Against Rhode Island School Establishment Over Transgender Policies
RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity: “school staff [must] use the student’s ‘preferred’ pronouns; change school records to reflect the chosen name; allow the student to use bathrooms aligning with their gender identity; and participate in school athletics based upon their gender preference”
As you know, the Equal Protection Project (EPP) (equalprotect.org) has been doing its level best to eliminate racial, and more recently, sex, discrimination in the nation’s colleges and universities, by filing civil rights complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). To date, EPP has filed complaints against more than 60 colleges, with the most recent being the complaint against the University of Oregon, filed March 4, 2025, with a greater than 50% win rate, meaning more than 50% of the programs EPP has filed against have changed their programs to be more open to those of all backgrounds.
For a nice overview on Professor Jacobson and EPP’s efforts along these lines, feel free to review the just-published article in the Chronicle for Higher Education titled “The Diversity Detective.”
But EPP isn’t the only organization trying to set things aright in the nation’s school systems.
See, for example, the just-filed complaint from our friends at the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity (RICFP) against the Rhode Island Commissioner of Education, the Rhode Island Interscholastic League, the Rhode Island Attorney General, and six Rhode Island school districts.
The gist of the complaint is that not only have these six school districts ignored recent Executive Orders signed by President Trump and official guidance promulgated by the Department of Education regarding transgender students participation in sports, they have been ordered to do so by the State of Rhode Island.
From the RICFP media release: Complaint Filed with Office of Civil Rights to Investigate Title IX Violations in Rhode Island:
The Law Centre at the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity filed an official complaint with the Office for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Education last evening, calling for an investigation into alleged Title IX violations by nine named state actors.
Referring to President Trump’s recent Executive Order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” and a related US DOE “Dear Colleague” letter to K-12 schools advising of planned enforcement of the Trump Administration’s 2020 Title IX rule, the complaint letter named the following entities:
- RI Commissioner of Education, Angelica Infante-Green
- The RI Interscholastic League
- RI Attorney General, Peter Neronha
- Six RI School Districts: Barrington, Chariho, Cumberland, East Greenwich, North Kingstown, and Providence
Each of the named entities has been notified separately of the complaint, which can be viewed in-full, here.
Attorney Gregory Piccirilli, advisor to the Law Centre, crafted the complaint, which includes a letter and 14 exhibits detailing prior communications with RIDE [Rhode Island Department of Education], RIDE Regulations and Guidance, RIIL [Rhode Island Interscholastic League] Rules, and the trans-gender policies of the six school districts.
The 16-page letter, in part, cited the February 28 letter to RI school districts by Attorney General Peter Neronha, which questioned the legality and enforceability of the above cited federal actions and essentially advising state education entities to maintain their existing trans-gender policies.
The Law Centre believes such an approach puts every school district at severe risk of loss of federal funding, discrimination lawsuits, or further OCR investigations.
To avoid legal and financial consequences, the Center recommends that RIDE, RIIL, and every school district in the State should rescind their existing trans-gender policies, if they defy the new federal law, and to craft their own policies that comply with both state and federal statutes.
An analysis of RICFP’s Complaint shows that it is extremely detailed. Not only is it 16 pages long (available for review and download here), but it comes complete with 14 exhibits, all of which can be reviewed here, and which provide a detailed look at exactly how the Rhode Island education establishment has mandated its transgender policies.
And those policies are thorough, and intrusive.
For example, as the complaint explains, the Rhode Island transgender policy “provides for circumstances where the school will not notify parents of a student’s ‘gender transition.'” The policy also “demand[s] that school staff use the student’s ‘preferred’ pronouns; change school records to reflect the chosen name; allow the student to use bathrooms aligning with their gender identity; and participate in school athletics based upon their gender preference.”
In summary, this complaint is a tour de force that gives the Department of Education a good head start on figuring out exactly how to investigate and correct this egregious rejection of President Trump’s Executive Orders in this area and the Department of Education’s guidance.
In short, Rhode Island can do what it wants, but it may have to forego federal funding for education. I’m not sure Rhode Island residents are aware of that.
We will keep you posted on developments in this area.
BREAKING: The Law Centre at @RICenterFreedom & Prosperity just filed a federal civil rights complaint naming elected & appointed RI officials, 2 institutions, and 6 RI school districts for federal Title IX violations for discriminatory trans-gender policies. Full details soon … pic.twitter.com/pS4Kf39U3y
— Ocean State Current (@TheCurrentRI) March 5, 2025
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Comments
A policy that lets trouble children be in charge of their schooling. What a woke joke.