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The U.S. Department of Education announced yesterday that they are interpreting Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination to include a prohibition on discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
"Consistent with the Supreme Court’s ruling and analysis in Bostock, the Department interprets Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination “on the basis of sex” to encompass discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity." Notice of Interpretation, pg. 4
"OCR will fully enforce Title IX to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in education programs and activities that receive Federal financial assistance from the Department." Notice of Interpretation, pg. 11
You can read the full announcement and access the full notice of interpretation on the U.S. Department of Education’s website.
What does this mean for Oregon schools?
Fortunately for Oregon K-12 schools, discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is already prohibited by state law. You should already prohibit this kind of discrimination in your policies and procedures, and should already have a clear process for accepting and processing complaints of discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
It is possible that the U.S. Department of Education and the Office for Civil Rights may issue additional regulations or guidance documents to assist schools in understanding their obligations to prohibit and respond to this type of discrimination under Title IX. In the meantime, here are some things you can do to ensure your school is compliant with Title IX and engaging in Title IX best practices:
- Review your policies on discrimination and ensure that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is prohibited, and that you have a process in place for handling reports of discrimination.
- Ensure that staff understand that reports of gender identity or sexual orientation discrimination now fall under Title IX.
- Prepare your Title IX processes to cover sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. This may involve ensuring your Title IX Coordinator or other Title IX personnel understand their roles in responding to discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, making sure your process includes looping Title IX in to reports of this type of discrimination, or other steps you may need for your district's process.
ODE is available to provide support and technical assistance regarding the above guidance. You can email Kate Hildebrandt, Civil Rights and Title IX Specialist, at Katherine.hildebrandt@state.or.us, or call 503-551-5713.
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