Female athletes ask 11th Circuit to protect fairness, safety at school

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Natalie Thompson regarding a friend-of-the-court brief ADF attorneys filed Thursday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on behalf of Female Athletes United and Christian Educators Association International in State of Alabama v. United States Secretary of Education. In the case, the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina are asking the 11th Circuit to affirm their right to protect female athletes, students, and teachers’ privacy, safety, and freedom of speech by halting the Biden-Harris administration’s unlawful rewrite of Title IX while their case proceeds. Title IX is a federal law designed to create equal opportunities for female students in education and athletics:

“The Biden-Harris administration’s radical redefinition of sex discrimination in Title IX upends our education system and ignores biological reality, science, and common sense. As we explain in our brief, under the administration’s Title IX rule, educators like those we represent face potential punishment for expressing their beliefs at school that men cannot become women or vice versa. And women face the reality of their private spaces being opened to males who identify as female. In effect, the new rules create a nationwide speech code that polices teachers’ and students’ freedom of speech, undermines students’ privacy in sex-specific spaces like showers and locker rooms, and threatens equal opportunities for girls in sports. The district court below was wrong to deny the states’ relief from the rule’s harms, and the 11th Circuit was right to join the other seven district courts in stopping the administration’s unlawful and dangerous extension of its authority while the states appeal.”

Last month, ADF attorneys filed another friend-of-the-court brief in this case with the 11th Circuit, urging it to block the rule while the states appeal the district court’s refusal to do so. The 11th Circuit then halted the administration’s unlawful rewrite of Title IX while the appeal continues. Now, the states are asking the 11th Circuit to hold that the rule should be blocked for the rest of the litigation, not just during its appeal.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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