DeSantis: Florida ‘will not comply’ with Biden’s new Title IX rules

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Thursday that his state “will not comply” with changes recently introduced to Title IX by the Biden administration.

“Florida refuses [President Biden’s] attempt to rewrite Title IX,” DeSantis said in a video published on social platform X. “We will not comply, and we will fight.”

“We’re not going to let Joe Biden try to inject men into women’s activities,” DeSantis continued. “We’re not going to let Joe Biden undermine parents’ rights, and we’re not going to let Joe Biden abuse his constitutional authority to try to impose these policies on us here in Florida.”

The Biden administration on Friday unveiled a final set of changes to Title IX that add protections for transgender students to the federal civil rights law on sex discrimination. The changes will take effect in early August.

“These final regulations build on the legacy of Title IX by making clear that all students in our country can access safe, welcoming schools that respect their rights,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

DeSantis has been criticized by LGBTQ advocates in the past for state laws they say harm his community, including the so-called Don’t Say Gay law that restricts discussion of LGBTQ issues in Florida public schools.

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The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, partnered with a Florida LGBTQ advocacy group last year to issue a travel warning to Florida.

“In its entirety, Florida’s slate of laws and policies targeting basic liberties and rights pose a significant risk to the health and safety of many considering relocation and/or temporary travel to the state” , says the travel advisory from HRC and Equality Florida.

The Hill has reached out to the White House.

Brandon Wolf, HRC’s national press secretary, said in an emailed statement to The Hill that “already politicians in Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma and elsewhere are jumping to oppose crucial protections for students in America’s schools.”

“These MAGA politicians are choosing theater and hateful rhetoric to protect and advance the needs of their state’s students,” Wolf said in the statement. “Failure to comply with Title IX could have harmful consequences for schools, including a significant loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, dollars that should be helping young people excel. academic lence. It seems to be a sacrifice that those whose only priorities are themselves and their own political profiles are willing to make.”

Jon Harris Maurer, director of public policy for Equality Florida, also said in an emailed statement Thursday that DeSantis “cannot ignore federal protections designed to safeguard students and families, including LGBTQ students, survivors of sexual assaults and harassment and pregnant students”.

“Thousands of parents have gathered at school board meetings to oppose policies that use their children’s classrooms as political battlegrounds. We will continue to work with parents across the state to foster an environment where every student can learn and thrive.”

“The Department developed the final Title IX regulations after a rigorous process to give full effect to Title IX’s statutory guarantee that no person experiences sex discrimination in federally funded education,” said a spokesperson for U.S. Department of Education in a statement emailed to The Hill on Thursday. .

“As a condition of receiving federal funds, all federally funded schools are required to comply with these final regulations, and we look forward to working with school communities across the country to ensure that Title IX’s guarantee of nondiscrimination in schools is the experience of each student”.

In a memo dated Thursday and shared with The Hill, Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. told school leaders that Florida will “fight” changes to Title IX.

“Instead of implementing the clear directive from Congress to prevent discrimination based on biological sex, the Biden Administration mutilates the statute beyond recognition in an attempt to make the country believe that biological sex no longer has any meaning,” Diaz’s note says.

This story was updated at 4:35 p.m