On February 3, the Minnesota Senate Education Policy Committee heard SF 96, the Save Women’s Sports Bill. Under state and federal law, the legislature has a duty to protect female athletes from unfair discriminatory practices throughout the state. SF 96 does just that, resolving misguided policies regarding eligibility for K-12 athletes. Since 2014 organizations and individuals in Minnesota have aggressively asserted that male athletes have a right to play on female sports teams – which is inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution as well as federal and state law, specifically protections afforded to students in Title IX. And, based on President Biden’s very first Executive Order, SF 96 is now a necessity if women’s sports are to continue.
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation. This order amounts to an attack on biology that will severely affect women and girls. Let’s be clear: any and all forms of discrimination are wrong and we should work toward resolution. However, in the name of equality this executive order discriminates against nearly half of the population – women – by requiring the head of each federal agency, in consultation with the Attorney General, to “revise, suspend, or rescind such agency actions, or promulgate new agency actions, as necessary to fully implement statutes” that contradict current legal protections against sex discrimination.
In other words, any anti-discrimination policies under the Biden administration will be based on categories of gender identity, NOT biology. To illustrate the magnitude of this order, consider the response from the – Human Rights Campaign, one of the most aggressive LGBTQ advocacy groups in the county, “Biden’s Executive Order is the most substantive, wide-ranging executive order concerning sexual orientation and gender identity ever issued by a United States president.”
It certainly is. President Biden’s executive order is a clear overreach, inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s holding in Bostockv. Clayton County. The order inaccurately interprets the recent decision prohibiting discrimination against gay and transgender individuals in the work place, based on Title VII. Though there is much interplay between Title VII and Title IX, Bostock does not construe Title IX. The Court decided the case narrowly, specifically refusing to extend its holding to Title IX and other differently drafted statutes. In fact, the Supreme Court’s majority opinion expressly stated no such laws “of that kind are expressly before us.” The President does not have the authority to unilaterally override the Supreme Court’s decision and other federal law. Nor does he have the authority to violate the U.S. Constitution and exploit executive authority to rewrite history, and write women and girls out of it.
Further, no man, high school league board or school board, should be able to take away women’s rights with the stroke of a pen. Women have been an integral part of society since the beginning of time, and are deserving of protections under the law. The Executive Order and its intended effect specifically on women and girls’ sports in local schools is a regressive policy signaling the hard-fought gains of the women in this state and across the country don’t matter.
Just as concerning, local legislators support these unconstitutional policies and even expressed hostility to women concerned with the impact that the Executive Order would have locally on their privacy, safety, and opportunities specifically in women’s sports. One DFL Senator went as far as to label SF 96, which protects women and girls, “morally repugnant.” It is now morally repugnant to be a woman? The hostility directed toward individuals that support a bill which simply clarifies what the law is and what it was intended to do for women and girls is astounding and offensive! This should concern all Minnesotans.
Clearly women’s opportunities and safety are being threatened by inaccurate legal interpretations and nonsensical policy at the state and federal level, and schools that simply comply with already existing and established laws are now being threatened with the loss of federal funding.
Is this the country you want for your daughter, your niece, your sister, your neighbor? Women and girls deserve better. Minnesotans, it is time to hold our government and elected officials accountable for passing laws and policy that support women and girls instead of stripping them of their rights. Many generations of women to follow are counting on us!
Renee Carlson is General Counsel for True North Legal, an Initiative of Minnesota Family Council
