Holcomb joins 24 GOP governors to oppose Title IX protections for transgender athletes

Gov. Eric Holcomb signed on to a letter pushing back against the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed rule to include transgender girls under Title IX protections. That’s despite vetoing Indiana’s transgender girls sports ban last year.

Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex for education institutions. The 1972 law intended to increase opportunities for female athletes.

The proposed DOE rule pushes back on bans across the country for transgender girls to participate in girls school sports, much like the ban that Holcomb vetoed and the legislature overturned last year.

The letter, signed by 25 of the 26 Republican governors, said the Biden administration is overextending a ruling from the Supreme Court in 2020, Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia. That ruling extended protections against employment discrimination “on the basis of sex” to transgender employees.

Advocates say the push of anti-LGBTQ+ and specifically anti-trans legislation across the country is an attempt to narrow that ruling to only employment protections. In just 2023, more than 500 bills targeting LGBTQ+ children and adults have been filed, including about two dozen in Indiana.

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When vetoing Indiana’s transgender girls sports ban, Holcomb said his reason was because Indiana already had a system in place to deal with complaints against trans athletes.

The governors’ letter said the proposed rule is part of “this administration’s relentless pursuit of draconian enforcement of its gender ideology.”

Attorney General Todd Rokita led a similar letter, signed by 16 other attorneys general.

Lauren is our digital editor. Contact her at lchapman@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @laurenechapman_.

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