The Argyle ISD Board of Trustees on Monday approved a resolution denouncing the United States Department of Education’s changes to Title IX over gender identity.
Title IX states that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. In April, the Department of Education proposed redefining “sex” to include gender identity, which would allow biological males who identify as females to use the women’s restroom, and vice versa.
The Argyle ISD Board resolution takes the position that “sex … is an immutable characteristic that cannot be changed, fluid or altered.” It goes on to say that the proposed changes “will cause immeasurable harm to women and girls by stripping them of the legal protections Title IX was intended to afford them.”
“These changes will force schools to allow biological males to use their restrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-specific spaces, and schools that refuse will risk losing federal education funding,” the resolution states. “There are physical differences between biological males and biological females; these differences do not disappear because an individual wills it to be so, and so allowing biological males into female-specific spaces poses not only a safety risk to girls and women but sends a chilling message to future generations of girls and undermines their efforts and achievements.”
The Title IX changes are set to go into effect Aug. 1, though Gov. Greg Abbott has instructed the Texas Education Agency to ignore them. Argyle ISD will submit the resolution, video of the meeting and a copy of the meeting agenda to the TEA commissioner, the Texas State Board of Education and state legislators representing Argyle ISD.
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