US Education Department reverts to sex from gender in Title IX

[OvaHere]

Very mixed bag of comments on this article. I'm sure I share little in common with Betsy DeVos but I can't disagree about Title IX. It was one of the most shortsighted things Obama did to have sex be replaced with gender.

www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2018/02/12/education-department-will-no-longer-investigate-transgender-bathroom-complaints/?utm_term=.4fe986c73baf&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1

Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, not gender identity,” Education Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Hill said in response to questions from The Washington Post. “Where students, including transgender students, are penalized or harassed for failing to conform to sex-based stereotypes, that is sex discrimination prohibited by Title IX. In the case of bathrooms, however, longstanding regulations provide that separating facilities on the basis of sex is not a form of discrimination prohibited by Title IX.

Should have said in the OP this relates to facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms. Not clear whether it will extend to sport or other areas.

This seems very sensible. It leaves schiols to decide what happens on a case by case basis.

I agree that it's essential that sex characteristics will be protected.

The politics are crazy though. All I've heard from anyone arguing for self-ID is 'oh it's fine everywhere else.'

But it looks like the same clash of rights is playing out in different ways across the board. So in the US you have a massive backlash and suspicion and a war around bathrooms and it takes a Trump figure to claw back women's rights. Whereas in Canada, you have Justin Trudeau refusing to beef up sex based rights and now a trans politician who has set up a foundation against 'transphobia' which looks by his twitter feed to be trying to turn voicing gender critical thoughts into a thought crime. Plus a schoolteacher facing calls to resign because he dared to question whether the trans-related education programmes were in children's best interests. You also can't really tell how many biological women are having problems in that climate - two women did go to the media to voice concerns about a man in a shelter but then got told they had to leave because they'd done this.

Are either of these paths really the ones we want to go down? Surely anyone wanting a workable policy would WANT to sit down and work through the issues?

I can't see how failing to do that is going to help anyone other than the far right or people who can see there are safety and rights issues but either don't care, or worse.

I agree it's disheartening when pushback comes mostly from the right wing because they don't have the same intentions behind it as feminists.

I imagine in the case of the Trump administration it's part of a wider picture of putting everyone back in their box, the current US government is certainly no friend to women's rights.

I liked Obama for a number of reasons but I think he really got this wrong.

Me too on Obama, Ova.

Oh yes Everyonematters I love that! 'it's working well in countries that have adopted it.' Yes, things are just ticking along very nicely for women in Argentina and Colombia, it's not like those countries have a history of massive human rights violations... Oh wait...

How can we know it’s working well in countries that have adopted it? Any reports of it not working would only show an increase in crimes and transgressions committed by girls and women.

And it's not like the way the news sources have reported the situation in the UK have filled me with much confidence that we're getting a full and accurate view of the situation either. Particularly the Guardian and the BBC. The misrepresentation of Marie Dean's crimes in particular was an eye-opener for me. But 'Nothing has gone wrong in countries where this has been brought in' seems to be a major strut supporting the case for self-ID. Time that was kicked away perhaps?

Never mind issues around reporting, recording, police corruption, inherent misogyny and rampant homophobia (can't speak for Argentina but certainly Colombia)

Yeah the international argument is shaky at best!