Photo by Arisa Chattasa on Unsplash
The same suspects who were once the loudest champions of Title IX and women’s sports — mostly liberal Democrats, Progressives, and various other leftists — are now embroiled in chaos as the Trump Education Department has flipped the script on them when it comes to federal funding. For decades what we have discussed on this program is usually a progressive agenda flowing to schools from the federal education bureaucracy, and the tool used to make schools obey is federal funding. But now, colleges and universities are finding themselves flouting federal laws that ban transgender athletes and filing lawsuits to try to keep the funding flowing freely.
The favored class these days in college appears to be men who either believe they are women or, as many suspect are merely pretending to be women. You may remember the high profile example from the University of Pennsylvania when “Lia,” a.k.a. William Thomas (who ranked 462 in men’s swimming), overwhelming beat his female competitors in a 2022 women’s swimming competition when he decided he was really a girl. This pattern has repeated itself in states like Maine and Colorado and many “left coast” states. The difference now, however is the U.S. Department of Education has announced that allowing these men to compete with women is a violation of Title IX.
Our states, unfortunately, are evenly divided on the issue, with a total of 23 and the District of Columbia allowing trans athletes to play on sports teams with the opposite sex. But state by state, and college by college, these progressive ideologues are finding a new set of roadblocks — primarily Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Attorney General Pam Bondi. Several states are finding that adhering to their own laws can invite a federal investigation — and an abrupt cut in aid — from an administration that is comfortable calling out educators for wokeness.
The Trump administration is finally bringing sanity to federal policy after four years of confusion, but what a particular joy it is to see conservatives flip the script on Big Education by using federal funding to enforce conservative priorities!
This post originally appeared at https://phyllisschlafly.com/family/feminism/education-department-flips-the-script-on-funding/