Resolution on Title IX Protections for Transgender Students
Adopted at the 86th Annual Meeting in 2018
WHEREAS, Title IX was passed to end discrimination in various fields based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in the areas of employment and public accommodation; and
WHEREAS, As a condition of receiving Federal funds, a school agrees that it will not exclude, separate, deny benefits to, or otherwise treat differently on the basis of sex any person in its educational programs or activities unless expressly authorized to do so under Title IX or its implementing regulations; and
WHEREAS, Title IX ensures equality for young people in every aspect of their education; and
WHEREAS, When Title IX was passed, 43 percent of students enrolling degree-granting institutions were women, compared with 57 percent of new students in 2010; and
WHEREAS, On May 13, 2016 the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education (Departments) issued guidance on how schools receiving federal funding treat a student's gender identity as the student's sex for purposes of Title IX and its implementing regulations; and
WHEREAS, The guidance provided by the Departments stated that a school must not treat a transgender student differently from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity; and
WHEREAS, the Departments guidance provided an interpret Title IX to require that when a student or the student's parent or guardian, as appropriate, notifies the school administration that the student will assert a gender identity that differs from previous representations or records, the school will begin treating the student consistent with the student's gender identity; and
WHEREAS, the Departments guidance provided that a school's Title IX obligation to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of sex requires schools to provide transgender students equal access to educational programs and activities even in circumstances in which other students, parents, or community members raise objections or concerns; and
WHEREAS, On February 22nd, 2017 President Trump rescinded the protections for transgender students set by the Departments through the guidance released on May 13, 2016; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the U.S. Conference of Mayors concurs that the Title IX prohibition against discrimination on the basis of sex includes, by definition, discrimination on the basis of gender identity, and strongly disagrees with the decision by the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice to roll back protections against gender identity discrimination for vulnerable students.