Breaking! Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Sues Biden Administration to Block Rewrite of Title IX

Austin, TX – April 29, 2024: Today, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden Administration for rewriting Title IX to define “sex” as “gender identity” and “sexual orientation.” Texas is among 5 other states that have had leaders to take action against the new rule. The Department of Education has plans for the new proposed rule to go into effect August 1. The new Title IX rule would do the following:

• Force girls and women of all ages to share restrooms, locker rooms, and showers with men who claim to identify as women
• The use of the wrong pronoun is considered “sexual harassment”
• Affect parental rights to the extent that if your child is undergoing a gender identity transition or crisis, the school can keep it secret from the parents
• Redefines “pregnancy” to include “termination of pregnancy” or abortion, meaning, if your school takes federal dollars in K-12 and college, schools can be forced to help students get abortions or get information about abortions, sometimes without notifying the parents

Additionally, the new rule violates Texas laws to protect girls and women from being forced to compete against men in sports in both the K-12 and collegiate level. Recently, the NAIA, which has 14 member schools in Texas, unanimously voted on a policy to keep men out of women collegiate sports.

Mary Elizabeth Castle, Director of Government Relations, released the following statement:

“Biden’s ‘War on Women’ will not work in Texas! I am both grateful and excited that the top law enforcement office in our state is willing to fight back against the Biden Administration’s erroneous re-write of reality. Not only does the Title IX re-write undermine the progress that women have made in education and sports over the past 51 years, but so many other rights like religious freedom and parental rights will be threatened if schools abide by this new rule. Texas must fight this bad policy every step of the way.”

Texas Values has been the leading organization in the state of Texas to advance laws to protect female athletes in K-12 University Interscholastic League (UIL) sports and in Texas colleges and universities. To learn more, visit savewomensportstexas.com.  

Members of Texas Values law and policy team are available for comment. Contact Ashley at media@txvalues.org or text/call 737-314-2450 to schedule an interview.

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About Texas Values

Texas Values is the largest statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to standing for faith, family, and freedom in Texas. More information is available at txvalues.org.