The Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) is telling school districts they must soon adopt policies — contrary to state law — that allow boys who identify as girls to use restrooms and locker rooms of their choice. KASB says districts must do so to comply with the Biden administration’s new Title IX rules dealing with discrimination.
So far, 26 states are suing to prevent the implementation of Biden’s Title IX law, saying the new regulations raise First Amendment concerns and accuse the rule of violating the Administrative Procedure Act. Kansas is one of the states suing and is joined in the suit by the Alliance Defending Freedom. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach tells The Sentinel that it would be foolish for school districts to waste money rushing to comply with the Biden administration’s position.
“The Biden Title IX regulations are unlawful, and I am confident that they will struck down in court. That is why the state of Kansas is leading a legal challenge against them. It would be foolish and a waste of money for school districts to spend money implementing the regulations before any court has spoken.”
In State of Kansas v. U.S. Department of Education, ADF attorneys represent Female Athletes United, an organization made up of female athletes devoted to protecting women’s sports, and Katie Rowland, a 13-year-old student who had to stop using the restrooms at her Oklahoma public school for a time because of males accessing this private space. In addition to the states of Kansas, Alaska, Utah, and Wyoming and the female student and female-athlete organization represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, two other groups, Moms for Liberty and Young America’s Foundation, also joined the lawsuit. Together, they formed a broad coalition to challenge the administration’s attempt to redefine “sex” in federal law to include “gender identity,” and to protect the privacy, safety, free speech, and fairness for students and teachers.
Kansas and Oklahoma are part of the same federal court district.
The Title IX regulation is scheduled to go into effect on August 1, but implementation could be stayed pending the outcome of the states’ lawsuits.
Title IX policy technically violates Women’s Bill of Rights in Kansas
Last year, the Kansas Legislature overrode Governor Kelly’s veto of the Women’s Bill of Rights, codifying into state law that an individual’s “sex” means an individual’s “sex” at birth, either male or female. Districts that act as suggested by KASB would technically be violating the Kansas Women’s Bill of Rights.
In a joint statement, House Speaker Dan Hawkins, Speaker Pro Tem Blake Carpenter, and Majority Leader Chris Croft hailed the bill’s passage:
“The right to privacy, safety, and equal opportunity in a single-sex space is a basic protection that each female in Kansas deserves. However, this right is currently under threat by ideologues attempting to redefine common language in a manner that separates sex from biology therefore compromising the safety, privacy, and equal opportunity of females in Kansas.
Biological differences between the sexes leave females more physically vulnerable than males to specific forms of violence, including sexual violence. The Women’s Bill of Rights protects the right to privacy and safety for females in restrooms, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, prisons, locker rooms, and other areas where biology, safety, and/or privacy are involved.
The passage of SB 180, The Women’s Bill of Rights, in the Kansas House, preserves current Kansas statutes that ensure access to women-only spaces is limited to biological females by establishing a legal definition of sex-based terms for the implementation of these laws.
This legislation is essential in ensuring that decades of progress made by the Women’s Rights Movement is not hijacked and in order to protect the rights, safety, dignity and equal opportunity of biological women in our state.”
