FAIR News: Two Weeks, Four OCR Complaints
Newsletter
Dear Friends of FAIR,
After the “Keeping men out of women’s sports” executive order was signed on February 5, 2025, several states were faced with a predicament—do they honor their own state’s laws that prohibit them from discriminating based on gender identity, or do they follow the Department of Education’s directive on Title IX, which requires that schools prevent discrimination based on biological sex—either male or female? Many states have chosen to explicitly and deliberately defy Federal agency guidelines by allowing trans-identifying males to compete on sports teams designated for females.
FAIR sympathizes with young people who suffer from gender dysphoria and recognizes the challenges they face. We also appreciate efforts on the part of schools to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students. However, inclusion cannot come at the expense of fairness, nor can it violate Federal law. That is why FAIR has filed four Federal civil rights complaints over the past two weeks, asking the DOE to open investigations in Washington, Maine, and Pennsylvania.
The common theme throughout the complaints is this: when schools allow male athletes, regardless of their purported “gender identity,” to compete in an athletic category designated for females, they: 1) deny female athletes fair competition; 2) deprive female athletes of opportunities, scholarships, and awards they would have otherwise earned in a competition reserved for biological females; and 3) they violate the explicit protections of Title IX.
We have urged the DOE to investigate the Title IX violations that have been brought to FAIR, and we hope they will act on our requests.
To view media stories covering FAIR’s OCR complaints, see the links below:
Warmly,
The Team at FAIR
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What does OCR mean?