More on the Rescission of OCR's Transgender Guidance

Following up on Kris's post from yesterday about the rescission of OCR's prior clarification about Title IX's application to transgender students, I wanted to contribute some additional points. First, in light of the existing injunction against the application of the guidance to "intimate spaces" like bathrooms and locker rooms, rescinding the guidance highlights the Department's lack of support for transgender students' rights and safety even outside of that context.  It is saying, essentially, that it will turn a blind eye to students who might be rejected or expelled from college because of their transgender status, and that it doesn't care if school district officials ignores bullying and harassment of transgender students. This is a harmful position for the federal government to take, especially in light of the fact that fewer than 20 states provide protection for transgender students facing harassment and discrimination.

That said, I need to emphasize that Title IX's dual enforcement mechanism give victims of sex discrimination two choices to assert their rights -- to complain to the Department of Education and/or to file a lawsuit.  Therefore, it is still possible for the courts to interpret Title IX to protect transgender students rights and to subject school districts/universities to liability for violating those rights.  This would not require an extreme or unusual interpretation of the law in most cases, as evidenced by numerous courts that have found that the the sex discrimination provision of Title VII protects transgender employees and job applicants who experience some forms of employment discrimination.  Even in the most challenging context, that of sex-segregated spaces like bathrooms, courts are capable of reading sex discrimination to mean discrimination based on transgender identity, which is an evaluation that takes sex into account, in that it considers of one's gender identity relative to one's (natal) sex.  Lawyers have their work cut out for them, but this is definitely not "game over" for transgender rights and Title IX.