Education Department, DOJ Form Title IX Special Investigations Team

Education Department, DOJ Form Title IX Special Investigations Team

The Departments of Education and Justice formed a Title IX special investigations team due to the large number of complaints that have come in.

I wrote this post earlier this morning, detailing three cases in Washington this past month.

I updated the post as soon as I saw the announcement:

Today, amid a staggering volume of Title IX complaints, the U.S Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announce the “Title IX Special Investigations Team” (SIT) to ensure timely, consistent resolutions to protect students, and especially female athletes, from the pernicious effects of gender ideology in school programs and activities.

The Title IX SIT will streamline Title IX investigations by creating a specialized team of investigators from across ED and DOJ offices. The establishment of the Title IX SIT will allow personnel to apply a rapid resolution investigation process to the increasing volume of Title IX cases and also enable ED and DOJ to work together to conduct investigations that are fully prepared for ultimate DOJ enforcement.

“Today’s establishment of the Title IX SIT will benefit women and girls across this nation who have been subjected to discrimination and indignity in their educational activities,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “From day one, the Trump Administration has prioritized enforcing Title IX to protect female students and athletes. Traditionally, our Office for Civil Rights (OCR) takes months, even years, to complete Title IX investigations. OCR under this Administration has moved faster than it ever has, and the Title IX SIT will ensure even more rapid and consistent investigations. To all the entities that continue to allow men to compete in women’s sports and use women’s intimate facilities: there’s a new sheriff in town. We will not allow you to get away with denying women’s civil rights any longer.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting males from participating in female sports.

The Title IX SIT includes:

• ED Office for Civil Rights investigators and attorneys
• DOJ Civil Rights Division attorneys
• ED Office of General Counsel attorneys
• ED Student Privacy and Protection Office case workers and an FSA Enforcement investigator

“Protecting women and women’s sports is a key priority for this Department of Justice,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “This collaborative effort with the Department of Education will enable our attorneys to take comprehensive action when women’s sports or spaces are threatened and use the full power of the law to remedy any violation of women’s civil rights.”

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a Title IX complaint for two Washington female track stars as a male runner dominates track meets.

Prosser High School senior Soleil Hoefer and Gonzaga Preparatory School freshman Kora Lengerich want the Department of Education to intervene.

From the complaint:

Soleil and Kora are high-school track athletes. Soleil, a senior, is a multisport athlete who competes in several track and field events and regularly lands on the podium. She’s already earned a college scholarship to play soccer, and her final track and field season is off to a great start. Kora is only a freshman and is already making her presence felt. Both of them compete in the 400-meter race.

But because of Washington’s unlawful policy allowing biological males into women’s sports, the deck is stacked against them and every other female athlete who runs that distance. A biological male who identifies as female and who competed on the boys’ high-school track team in the past—now runs the women’s 400 meters and dominates. This athlete won last year’s girls’ state championship in the 400 meter and seems on track to do it again. Kora has already lost a podium spot to this athlete, and Soleil will likely have to run against the athlete soon. It is fundamentally unfair that despite all of their hard work and discipline, Soleil and Kora may be deprived of the thrill of victory because Washington forces them to race against males with inherent biological advantages. Soleil and Kora urge OCR to step in to prevent this violation of federal law and protect the right of women and girls to compete in a female-designated sports category.

The lawsuit follows a Title IX complaint filed by the Kennewick School Board, located in eastern Washington, after the board voted for it, 4-0.

Last month, the Mead School District asked the Education Department to step in as well.

“It is fundamentally unfair that, despite all of their hard work and discipline, Soliel and Kora may never get to know the thrill of victory because Washington forces them to race against males with inherent biological advantages,” said ADF Legal Counsel Suzanne Beecher. “Consistent with President Trump’s executive order, ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,’ Soleil and Kora believe that Washington state officials are violating Title IX’s guarantee that students receive equal opportunity to enjoy educational benefits regardless of sex.”

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) has a few proposals to vote on that would ban males from female sports.

ML/HS #7 limits “participation in girls’ sports would be limited to biological females.”

ML/HS #8 says “athletic programs would be offered separately for boys, girls, and an open division for all students interested.”

My goodness. It is always about protecting female sports, never male sports. I want to tear out my hair.

Every single case is about a male in female sports and places. It is never ever about a female in male sports and places.

WIAA claims banning males from female sports violates state law:

Sean Bessette, director of communications for the WIAA, said in a statement Tuesday: “The WIAA has been told by the Attorney General’s office, the Office for Civil Rights, and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction that proposed amendments ML/HS #7 and ML/HS #8 would be a violation under current Washington state law, affirming our attorney’s legal review. The WIAA remains committed to following state law, and those amendments focused on gender-identity participation would not be implemented on August 1 if they were to pass under current state law.

“If state law were to change, the WIAA’s Executive Board has the authority and would need to alter the Association’s rules accordingly.”

Make it stop.

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