Biden Administration Says Discrimination Against LGBTQ Students is Illegal

The Biden administration sent a letter to schools last week saying that federal civil rights laws, which ban discrimination under the pretense of “sex,” extend to LGBTQ students as well. This coincides with the 49th anniversary of Title IX, and the declaration commits to combating anti-LGBTQ harassment, outlining the obligations school have under the law.

It was issued by the Department of Education, and the letter cites the vulnerability uniquely felt by LGBTQ students and the challenges these students face in comparison to their cisgender, heterosexual peers.

The letter also explicitly referenced the Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in Bostock v Clayton County, which deemed it is illegal to fire someone or deny them employment for being LGBTQ under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Department of Education says that this decision extends to Title IX, the court finding it is “impossible to discriminate” against a queer or trans person without discriminating against that individual based on sex.

The Biden administration recently used the same Supreme Court case to deem that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender is illegal when providing healthcare services.

“That reasoning applies regardless of whether the individual is an adult in a workplace or a student in school,” according to the DOE.

The Obama administration had previously released a letter with similar content in 2016 that was rescinded by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos under the Trump administration.

The announcement comes after a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in the United States. Biden has since come out and told trans kids he has their back, and it was reported he was working with organizations in addressing the amount of anti-LGBTQ legislation being introduced across the country.

The Office for Civil Rights also updated their website to include a toolkit for faculty, staff, and administrators on LGBTQ discrimination in schools. It uses examples of the kinds of incidents the DOJ and DOE can investigators can investigate against LGBTQ students, like a trans girl not being allowed to use the bathroom that aligns with her gender or a lesbian student not being allowed to bring a female partner to prom.