Title IX Recent Developments

June 9, 2021

Title IX Recent News - Provide Comment or Listen to the ED Office for Civil Rights Public Hearing on Title IX

The Department of Education (DOE) is hosting a virtual public hearing on Title IX on June 7 - 11, 2021.

DOE is especially interested in comments on the steps the Department of Education can take to:

• Ensure that schools are providing students with educational environments free from discrimination in the form of sexual harassment, which encompasses sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence;
• Ensure that schools have grievance procedures that provide for the fair, prompt, and equitable resolution of reports of sexual harassment and other sex discrimination, cognizant of the sensitive issues that are often involved; and
• Address discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in educational environments.

 OCR’s Title IX hearing, will run:

• June 7, 2021, from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., ET
• June 8, 2021, from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., ET
• June 9, 2021, from 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., ET
• June 10, 2021, from 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., ET
• June 11, 2021, from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., ET

 The following is information about how to (1) submit a written comment; and (2) attend the hearing to listen to comments from others.

• To submit written comments, email T9PublicHearing@ed.gov by 5:00 p.m. ET on June 11, 2021, and include the subject line “Written Comment: Title IX Public Hearing (topic of the comment).”
• To attend and listen to comments from others, use this link: https://cvent.me/8wkwkv. No advance registration is required.

April 7, 2021

Letter to Students, Educators, and Other Stakeholders re:

Executive Order 14021 

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/correspondence/stakeholders/20210406-titleix-eo-14021.pdf 

On April 7, 2021, the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a letter to students, educators and stakeholders describing the steps that OCR will take to implement President Biden’s Executive Order (EO) 14021 Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free from Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity.  

In the letter, OCR indicates that it will be holding a public hearing to solicit feedback on the experience of students, educators, and other stakeholders with the 2020 Title IX regulations, and should be offering opportunities for participation by oral comments and written submissions. OCR will publish notice of the hearing in the Federal Register and will then be holding the hearing at least one month after that notice. The hearing will be open to the public and may be held over several days depending on the number of people who seek to testify. 
 

March 8, 2021 

Executive Order 14021 Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free from Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity. 

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/03/11/2021-05200/guaranteeing-an-educational-environment-free-from-discrimination-on-the-basis-of-sex-including 

On March 8, 2021, the Biden Administration issued Executive Order 14021 Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free from Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity. EO 14021 directed the Department of Education (DOE) to  

“review all of its existing regulations, orders, guidance, and policies to ensure consistency with the Biden-Harris Administration’s policy that students be guaranteed education free from sexual violence. It also directs ED to specifically evaluate the Title IX regulation issued under the previous administration and agency action taken pursuant to that regulation, to determine whether the regulation and agency action are consistent with the policies of the Biden-Harris Administration.” 

The EO also noted the Administration’s policy that all students should be guaranteed an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex “including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.” The EO directs the Secretary of Education to consider taking additional enforcement actions consistent with this policy, including actions “to account for intersecting forms of prohibited discrimination that can affect the availability of resources and support for students who have experienced sex discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race, disability, and national origin” and “to account for the significant rates at which students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) are subject to sexual harassment.” 

January 20, 2021 

Executive Order 13988 Preventing and Combatting Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation  

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/25/2021-01761/preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-the-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation 

 On January 20, 2021, the Biden Administration issued Executive Order 13988 – Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation. This EO expands prohibited forms of sex discrimination under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.