FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2024
Superintendent Arntzen: Rights of Montana Girls Shall Not be Infringed
HELENA – Superintendent Arntzen held a press conference on the steps of the Montana State Capitol today in defense of the rights of Montana girls. This was in response to the federal Department of Education’s new radically woke Title IX rules that no longer aim to protect girls in our public schools. Read her remarks below:
“I am Elsie Arntzen, I am honored to be Montana’s elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction. I am very concerned about how the Biden Administration is overstepping the authority of the federal government with the dangerous rewriting of the Title IX rules.
The history of Title IX dates back to 1972, and it was meant to protect biological women from discrimination in educational programs and activities. As a woman, a mother, and a grandmother, I am grateful that Title IX provided women an equal opportunity to compete in sports and advance their education.
President Biden and the U.S. Department of Education’s unconstitutional rewrite of Title IX overturns 5 decades of protections, undermines fairness in sports, and increases the risk of discrimination and violence against young women. This extreme and illegal redefinition of biological sex is an attack on our families, an attack on our God-given rights, and an attack on the great state of Montana. This is the real war on real women.
The overreaching Title IX changes directly conflict with Montana values and Montana law.
The Montana legislature, who represent the people of our state, passed SB 458 by Senator Carl Glimm and HB 361 by Representative Brandon Ler, in full transparency during the 2023 session. These bills, which were also signed by Governor Gianforte, protect our young women and girls and safeguard our students’ freedom of speech.
My granddaughters Harper and Piper, along with all our daughters and granddaughters, deserve safety in the classroom as well as in elementary, middle school, or high school bathrooms and locker rooms. All girls deserve to have fair access to compete in sports.
Under these new discriminatory federal Title IX rules, students may be punished for sexual harassment simply for using biologically correct terms. There is no science to these rules; they are based on a dangerous ideology being pushed by fringe organizations. Remember COVID, these are the same people who told us to “follow the science” and attempted to shutter our classrooms, schools, churches, and businesses across the country. Yet these same extreme activists refuse to acknowledge basic middle school biology lessons.
Under the Biden Administration, America has departed from the US Constitution. No more, not in our Montana. Montanans are fed up with the top-down federal mandates that disregard states’ rights, our state laws, and American values. Here in Montana, we will not stand idly by while the federal government stomps on our Constitution.
When these detrimental Title IX rule changes were being considered, I exposed the harm this rule would cause. On September 12, 2022, I submitted comment to the U.S. Department of Education opposing this top-down federal mandate; stating that it would force schools to focus on regulating a new definition of harassment instead of allowing schools to focus on student success.
The bureaucrats in DC did not heed my warning and have ignored the chorus of dissent by states across our nation. I stand with Montana’s Attorney General Knudson who leading a coalition of states to file a lawsuit against the Biden administration's new rules.
As State Superintendent of Public Instruction, I have directed Montana schools to not implement the new Title IX rules that will foster more violence and discrimination against our young girls. The new rules do not take effect until August, and the legal challenges are mounting to stop this attack on young women and biological sex. Currently, Montana law still stands and schools must abide by the laws of our state.
Here in Montana, we will put our families and our children’s education first. We will not comply with the continual attacks on our way of life. We will not compromise when it comes to protecting Montana’s children. We will win for our families, for our great state of Montana, and for our nation.”
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Questions? Contact:
Brian O'Leary, Communications Director
The OPI is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation, require an alternate format, or have questions concerning accessibility, contact the OPI ADA Coordinator, 406-444-3161, opiada@mt.gov, Relay Service: 711.
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