NEW ORLEANS — Recently, the United States Department of Education announced new rules to protect LGBTQ+ students' rights.
“This is federal government overreach," Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said.
Louisiana officials fired back, announcing plans to sue the Biden administration.
“The DOE published Title IX regulations that attempt to remake American societal norms through classrooms, lunch rooms, bathrooms, and locker rooms in American schools," Murrill said.
For over five decades, Title IX has paved the way for women in educational settings, protecting their rights, barring discrimination, and opening doors of opportunity. Now, the Biden Administration is expanding those rules already in place to protect LGBTQ+ students from discrimination too.
"Hopefully, this is going to continue to propel us to provide those protections for those students," Forum for Equality Executive Director SarahJane Guidry said. "We're going to continue to remind the Landry administration, that these are children, and that they deserve to be protected as much as everybody else."
Under the new rules, Attorney General Liz Murrill says teachers will be forced to use their students' preferred pronouns. She believes expanding Title IX will be bad for women.
"Make no mistake. This will eviscerate Title IX. They are entirely contrary to what Title IX was intended to achieve and what we have implemented and understood Title IX to mean and protect," Murrill said.
Equality advocate SaraJane Guidry disagrees, saying that the definition of a woman has evolved, and it is time that our laws reflect that.
"We understand that that definition of sex has expanded, to include a whole host of women. And obviously, that includes sexual orientation and gender identity," Guidry said.
Louisiana State Superintendent Dr. Cade Brumley advised school systems against adhering to new Title IX policies.
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