Northwestern expert on legal challenges to Title IX protections for LGBTQI+ students
‘This is a critical time when LGBTQI+ rights and rights to bodily autonomy are under growing attack across the country,’ says director of LGBTQI+ Rights Clinic
CHICAGO --- A decision by a federal judge to block President Joe Biden’s efforts to expand Title IX protections on Monday is the latest attack on LGBTQI+ rights and rights to bodily autonomy, said Kara Ingelhart, the inaugural director of the LGBTQI+ Rights Clinic at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.
The new Title IX rule, intended to protect the rights of LGBTQI+ students and victims of campus sexual assault, was temporarily blocked by U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves from taking effect in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. This decision comes soon after a different federal judge blocked the new rule from taking affect in Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana.
“The Biden Administration's updates to the Title IX rules earlier this year are important because they explicitly iterated support for LGBTQI+ students, students who are survivors of sexual assault and pregnant and parenting students under the Administration's interpretation of Title IX's guarantee of equal education opportunities free from sex discrimination,” said Ingelhart, who is also a clinical assistant professor of law at Northwestern.
“Protection for transgender, nonbinary and intersex students is consistent with the text of Title IX,” she said. “This is a critical time when LGBTQI+ rights and rights to bodily autonomy are under growing attack across the country. It's important that the Administration and others in our nation's leadership continue to send inclusive messages to safeguard all students vulnerable to bullying, harassment and discrimination.”
Professor Ingelhart is available to speak to media. Contact Shanice Harris at shanice.harris@northwestern.edu to arrange an interview.