OPINION: Proposed Title IX Changes Put Female Sports in Jeopardy

By Tom Hach

The Biden Administration is taking a top-down, one size-fits-all approach to changing Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972, and it has generated much controversy and pushback. If implemented
as planned, the changes will ultimately deny federal funds to schools which adopt a policy or engage
in a practice which prevents a person from participating in an education program or activity, including
athletics, consistent with their gender identity. The proposed Title IX changes were entered into the
federal registry on July 12, 2022 by the U.S. Department of Education.

Tied to the proposed changes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued guidance in May 2022
threatening to restrict federal funds from schools through the National School Lunch Program if they
do not comply with the revisions to Title IX . Many, including the Ohio State Board of Education ,
believe this Title IX changes contradict the plain language of the original law, which ensured female
athletes are treated fairly. Additionally there are questions regarding whether the administration’s
course of action illegally bypasses the legislative process, which has resulted in 22 states attorneys
general to file a lawsuit suing to prevent the changes in Title IX language from being enacted.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was modified with the passage of Title IX as part of the Education
Amendments of 1972 to ensure equal access to both male and female athletes. At the time Title IX was
enacted, there were more men’s than women’s sports, as well as an unequal distribution of funding.
Since 1972, Title IX has largely achieved the goal of establishing athletic equality for men and women
in the United States.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) has guidelines in place which require all student
athletes identifying as opposite their sex at birth to “have completed a minimum of one year of
hormone treatment related to gender transition.” However, there is evidence, which indicates after one
year of hormone treatment “ the muscular advantage enjoyed by transgender women (biological males)
is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed.”

Separate from the hormone treatment policy, the (OHSAA) Executive Director’s Office will also allow
transgender female (biological males) athletes to demonstrate by way of “sound medical evidence” that
the athletes in question does not possess physical or physiological advantages over genetic females of
the same age group. However, the OHSAA does not provide any details regarding the definition of
‘sound medical evidence’ which would allow a biological boy not taking hormones to compete in girls
sports.

As a result of the proposed changes, several school districts in Ohio have passed declarations in support
of the Ohio State Board of Education’s Title IX Resolution. The concern expressed by many districts is
how to maintain the integrity of women’s and girls sports, as well as how to handle privacy concerns in
locker rooms, showers and bathrooms. Another concern is how to ensure a scientifically-based
curriculum, which recognizes male and female distinctions, is maintained in the classrooms.