Ark. Gov. Orders State to Defy Biden Revisions to Title IX

Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is following the lead taken by other red states in directing her government to defy changes to Title IX made by the Biden administration regarding transgender students.

Huckabee Sanders on Thursday signed an executive order stating the Biden administration's rewriting of Title IX discrimination on the basis of sex to include discrimination on the basis of gender identity "is a plainly ridiculous change that will lead to males unfairly competing in women's sports; receiving access to women's and girls' locker rooms, bathrooms, and private spaces; and competing for women's scholarships."

Congress passed Title IX in 1972 to prevent sex-based discrimination in schools and education programs that receive federal funding.

"My message to Joe Biden and the federal government is that we will not comply," Huckabee Sanders, a former White House press secretary under Donald Trump, said in a video statement posted on her X account. "If President Biden threatens our state with loss of educational funding because we refuse to go along with his election-year pandering, Arkansas will take the federal government to court. That's because this issue goes beyond a single locker room or a missed scholarship.

"The truth is important. Biology is important. The differences between men and women are important. Title IX was created because of those fundamental truths, and for half a century, it has allowed women and girls to access colleges, sports and scholarships that were previously unavailable. We won't let Biden threaten that, and we certainly will not let him erase our existence as women."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said last week his state will not comply with the revamped changes. Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters told Newsmax on Thursday he has directed all 542 of the state's school districts and charter schools not to comply with the rewrite of Title IX. Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Montana on Monday joined in filing a federal lawsuit against the revisions, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also said Monday his state filed a lawsuit.

"This is all for a political agenda, ignoring significant safety concerns for young women students in pre-schools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities across Louisiana and the entire country," Republican Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a news release. "This all coming from the people who don't even know how to define the word 'woman.' I'll always stand up for children and families across this state."