Every now and then, I finish reading a major-media news story and I think: Wait a minute. There’s a massive hole here (and one that’s going to produce all kinds of news headlines). Didn’t anyone notice?
In this case, we are talking about another story involving a head-on collision between the First Amendment and the evolving doctrines of the Sexual Revolution. The battleground is the hyper-tense world of higher education. The Washington Post headline, in this case: “New Title IX rules set to assert rights of transgender students.”
We will get to the overture in a moment. But can you spot the “hole” that is sort-of mentioned in this background paragraph which is buried way down in the Post report?
Title IX is a 1972 law that bars discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational program or activity that receives federal money. Schools found in violation risk losing federal aid. Advocates have long held that this definition rightfully includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
OK. Does “any educational program or activity that receives federal money” include student-loan programs?
If so, maybe this story should have at least mentioned the 7,000 or so religious colleges and universities in this land? I mean, is there any chance that LGBTQ activists are going to challenge the religious liberty claims of these schools, many of which are explicitly doctrine-defined voluntary associations?
With that in mind, read the top of this feature at The Conversation: “What is the religious exemption to Title IX and what’s at stake in LGBTQ students’ legal challenge?”
While federal law shields most U.S. students from gender and sexual orientation discrimination, an estimated 100,000 LGBTQ students at religious institutions do not have the same protections.
Under a religious exemption provision, scores of colleges and universities can – and do – discriminate on the basis of someone’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
A class action lawsuit now challenges that discrimination. It alleges that the Department of Education’s acquiescence in Title IX’s religious exemption violates the students’ constitutional rights and causes them harm.
Believe it or not, the Washington Post article totally ignores this issue looming behind the headlines. Here’s the overture of the story that ran:
Discrimination against transgender students would be a violation of federal civil rights law under proposed regulations the Education Department is expected to finalize in the coming weeks.
Title IX bars discrimination on the basis of sex in education, and the new rules would make clear this includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, among other things, according to two people familiar with a draft of the proposed regulation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly comment on the subject.
Regulations carry the power of law. The rules, if finalized, would set up a clash with state laws that bar transgender women from competing in women’s sports. Those statutes are already being challenged in the courts.
The sports wars between DNA women and trans women is the headline right now.
I get that. But that doesn’t mean that the religion angle doesn’t deserve one or two paragraphs. If you have followed the White House trends under Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, you know that. After all, as the Post notes:
The draft text of the regulation included this key sentence, according to the people familiar with it: “Discrimination on the basis of sex includes discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex-related characteristics (including intersex traits), pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.” …
National debate over gay and lesbian rights has quieted, but there remains a storm of controversy around transgender rights, often focused on bathroom use and, in more recent months, participation in sports. Twelve states, including Utah, Texas, Florida, Idaho and South Dakota, have passed laws banning transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
Does anyone else see the hole in this important story?
This is yet another reason why many editors on “non-religion” desks, whatever the topic, need to run more of their story proposals past the religion-beat specialist or specialists in their newsrooms.
Just saying.
FIRST IMAGE: Logo used with feature — “Education Dept. issues new Title IX regs with crucial campus due process protections, adopts Supreme Court sexual harassment definition” — at the website of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.