Oklahoma won’t be required to expand protections for LGBTQ+ people in schools while waiting for a federal court to weigh in on new Title IX rules.
The U.S. Department of Education released new Title IX amendments earlier this year that clarify the processes schools should follow when complaints of sex-based harassment are filed. They also expand protections for students and school employees who are pregnant, breastfeeding or recovering from terminating a pregnancy. The rules go into effect Aug. 1.
Among the 1,500 pages of rules, one section has stirred up controversy. Title IX has always protected against “sex-based harassment,” but the new amendments say that includes discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond won a preliminary injunction to block the new Title IX rules from taking effect in Oklahoma. He said the rules elevate gender identity above protections of male and female students.
U.S. District Judge Jodi W. Dishman agreed.
“The Final Rule elevates gender identity and its accompanying protections above that of biological sex,” Dishman wrote in her decision. “Such a contradiction of Title IX’s text and an erosion of its purpose cannot be permitted absent congressional action.”
The preliminary injunction prevents the new Title IX rules from taking effect in Oklahoma until a higher court has the chance to rule on the constitutionality of the amendments.
Oklahoma joined more than a dozen other states that have challenged the new regulations.
