President Trump returned to the White House in January, and among his first orders was the comeback of Title IX 2020, and with it, the elimination of all discrimination protection based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
The biggest change in the Title IX was the dismissal of the word “discrimination.” Whereas before, the Title IX 2024 from Biden administration protected students against any type of sexual harassment, assault or discrimination, including discrimination against one’s gender, sexual orientation, and one’s pregnancy status, now, reverting to the 2020 Title IX rules under Trump’s first administration, these rules no longer protect those who identify differently from what they were assigned when born, which will cause a great impact on the LGBTQI+ community safety.
Mariah Hogg, a student at SUNY Cortland majoring in Early Childhood Education, stated that returning to the old rules of Title IX, that involves less protection towards the minority social groups, is a regression and will affect the lives of many. “Trump’s version does the bare minimum for those who suffer from incidents indicated under Title IX. I, being a 22-year-old woman, am repulsed by this,” said Hogg.
In the section “Anti-LGBTQI+ Discrimination,” where before it stated that “sex discrimination includes discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics (including intersex traits) and sex stereotypes,” now it simply states, “the court prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” dismissing any other inclusive characteristic of the community and the social safety of most of them.
When announcing and excusing the changes, Trump’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor declared that The Title IX Biden Administration that defended the trans-community and its rights, was unlawful and an abuse of power.
Furthermore, the manner in which the cases of sexual assault will be handled will also change. Whereas before it was stated that the school must interview each party individually and have a decision maker question all parties while using a process to assess the credibility of the parties, the new rule states that the school must allow cross-examination between parties and allow written questions from one party to another.
“All incidents within a college town should be taken seriously and investigated. The government wonders why women don’t feel comfortable speaking out, it’s because we don’t get taken seriously,” said Hogg. “It’s a true shame. Trump’s revision of Title IX is going to cause a lot of harm and not show support for women’s rights.”
The change in how things will be handled will have a great impact on the number of the cases that will be recognized and dealt as harassment or assault, resulting, therefore, on a higher number of victims that won’t have their cases properly investigated and will lack support from the system.