SOUTHLAKE — Local leaders gathered Monday night at a Texas Values press conference to support Carroll ISD’s lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s Title IX changes.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the Biden administration’s revision to Title IX, which is scheduled to take effect in August but facing legal challenges, will expand discrimination protections to include gender identity and sexual orientation as protected categories.
Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Carroll ISD, challenging the changes to longstanding rules meant to protect women and girls in education-related programs and activities that receive federal taxpayer support.
“I’m proud to be here and stand with really just absolute pillars in our community, watching as Carroll ISD has taken a bold stance. And really, what should not be political at all, but is pure common sense,” Rep. Nate Schatzline (R-Fort Worth) said at the press conference.
“… Surely we can agree that this is an attack from the Biden administration to take away safe spaces for our daughters, our minors inside of our high schools, inside of our middle schools. This is an all-out attack against common sense and against the protection of our young ladies, ” Schatzline added.
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare was also in attendance.
“It’s really unbelievable that we are sitting here today having to sue the United States government to make sure girls get to play girls’ sports,” O’Hare said. “… As a parent of four girls currently in Carroll ISD schools, I am appalled at what is happening in the United States.”
The county judge applauded Carroll ISD for challenging the administration’s changes to Title IX.
“I am so grateful they are standing up for all of the girls, not just in Carroll ISD, but across our state,” he said.
Mary Elizabeth Castle, senior policy advisor and director of government relations at Texas Values, said the lawsuit will succeed.
“You are already seeing in the news where different circuit courts have struck down or put an injunction on the new rule,” Castle told The Dallas Express. “People are waking up as they realize how this is ridiculous.”
Judges have thus far blocked the implementation of the Biden administration’s Title IX revisions in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho.
Some attorneys general, however, are rallying to support the revisions.
“All students should be protected from harassment and discrimination in the classroom,” said Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, per the Jacksonville Journal-Courier. “Efforts to limit Title IX are shortsighted and discriminatory and would have a negative effect on the well-being of youth.”
Community members expressed their support for Carroll ISD’s lawsuit during the public comment portion of Monday’s school board meeting.
“I want to thank Alliance Defending Freedom for filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of CISD at no cost to the taxpayers,” said Co-Founder and President of Southlake Families Leigh Wambsganss.
No one at the board meeting spoke out in opposition to the lawsuit.
Carroll ISD school board members reportedly discussed the lawsuit behind closed doors during its executive session but did not provide a public update on the pending litigation.