Greg Abbott Defies Joe Biden With Order To Ignore New Law

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has instructed universities and community colleges in the state to ignore the Biden administration's recent revisions to Title IX, which include a ban on discrimination based on gender identity.

Title IX, which forms part of a 1972 amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1965, outlaws discrimination based on sex within any educational body receiving federal money. The Biden administration's update, which was released in April and takes effect on August 1, extends this to cover discrimination over gender identity or sex stereotypes in a move to better protect transgender students. It also reversed a Trump-era edit that gave additional rights to students accused of engaging in sexual misconduct.

The status of transgender rights in education, and in particular their access to bathrooms and involvement in sport teams matching their gender identity, has become a heated political issue in recent years. Supporters of the Title IX change argue it will better protect transgender rights, while critics claim the participation of what they regard as biological males will undermine women's sports and create safety issues.

On X, formerly Twitter, Abbott shared part of an open letter he wrote to Texas colleges and universities telling them to defy the new Title IX edits.

He wrote: "Texas will not comply with President Biden's rewrite of Title IX. Period. Today, I instructed Texas public colleges and universities to ignore this illegal rewrite.

"Texas will not let President Biden impose a leftists belief and erase advancements our state has made."

In the open letter, addressed to college and university "chairman and regents," Abbott said: "As I have already made clear, Texas will not comply with President Joe Biden's rewrite of Title IX that contradicts the original purpose and spirit of the law to support the advancement of women. Last week, I instructed the Texas Education Agency to ignore President Biden's illegal dictate of Title IX. Today, I am instructing every public college and university in the State of Texas to do the same.

"The law passed by Congress was based on the fundamental premise that there are only two sexes—male and female. President Biden wants to force every school across the country to treat boys and men as if they were girls and women and to accept every student's self-declared gender identity, exceeding his authority as President in order to impose a leftist belief on the next generation."

According to a press release published by Abbott's office the letter was sent to "Texas A&M University System, Texas Southern University, Texas State University System, Texas Tech University System, Texas Women's University System, University of Houston System, University of North Texas System, and University of Texas System, as well as Texas' community colleges."

An Education Department spokesperson told Newsweek: "The Department crafted the final Title IX regulations following a rigorous process to give complete effect to the Title IX statutory guarantee that no person experiences sex discrimination in federally funded education.

"As a condition of receiving federal funds, all federally funded schools are obligated to comply with these final regulations and we look forward to working with school communities all across the country to ensure the Title IX guarantee of nondiscrimination in school is every student's experience."

Newsweek reached out to the White House press office via email for comment outside of usual office hours. This article will be updated with any response.

WTAW radio asked Texas A&M University whether it would comply with Abbott's instruction to ignore the Title IX update.

In a statement, it said: "Texas A&M complies with all federal and state laws and regulations, as well as Texas A&M System policy. The recent updates to Title IX regulations will require extensive changes to our current operations, and our AVP of Title IX Compliance appropriately initiated steps toward the need to comply with a new federal regulation that goes into effect on Aug. 1."

The Biden administration's Title IX update was also criticized by some transgender rights campaigners for not explicitly banning rules preventing transgender students from taking part in competitions that match their gender identity.

Update 5/9/24, 10:48 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from an Education Department spokesperson.