South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is a fighter for conservative principles, and she proved as much again last week in a warning to the Biden administration.
Noem cautioned President Joe Biden against his administration’s proposed Title IX rules aimed at preventing high schools and colleges from banning trans women from participating in women’s sports.
In February, Noem signed a law to ban transgender female (biologically male) athletes from participating in girls’ or women’s school sports.
“This bill’s about fairness,” she said at the time. “It’s about allowing biological females to compete fairly on a level playing field that gives them opportunities for success.”
But now that Biden is using his Department of Education to try and pull off an end-run on South Dakota and other states with similar laws, Noem stood in the breach.
“South Dakota will not allow this to stand. We will lead. We will defend our laws. Only girls will play girls’ sports. President Biden, we’ll see you in Court,” she declared on Friday.
“The U.S. Department of Education (Department) proposes to amend its regulations implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) to set out a standard that would govern a recipient’s adoption or application of sex-related criteria that would limit or deny a student’s eligibility to participate on a male or female athletic team consistent with their gender identity,” the Department of Education wrote Thursday.
The Department of Education issued a press release that said:
Since Title IX was signed into law more than 50 years ago, it has enabled tremendous strides in educational opportunity free from sex discrimination, including in athletics, for millions of students across the country.
Today, the U.S. Department of Education is releasing a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on athletic eligibility under Title IX to advance Title IX’s longstanding goal of ensuring equal opportunity in athletics.
During the two years of outreach to stakeholders to develop this proposed rule, the Department heard repeatedly that many schools, students, parents, and coaches face uncertainty about when and how transgender students can participate in school sports, particularly because some states have chosen to adopt new laws and policies on athletics participation that target transgender students.
“Every student should be able to have the full experience of attending school in America, including participating in athletics, free from discrimination. Being on a sports team is an important part of the school experience for students of all ages,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
Biological females — whom Democrats used to champion — feel they are being discriminated against by this rule, and in South Dakota, at least, it’s not going to stand without a challenge.
South Dakota will not allow this to stand. We will lead. We will defend our laws. Only girls will play girls’ sports.
President Biden, we’ll see you in Court. pic.twitter.com/Irv03aMEp9
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) April 6, 2023