Title IX Complaint Filed Against NC’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bills

Last week, the Campaign for Southern Equality, an LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group, filed a federal Title IX complaint against two of North Carolina’s “Don’t Say Gay” bills, which they alleged are harmful towards LGBTQ+ students and youth. The complaint, which spanned over 100 pages, included testimonials from many students, parents, and teachers and described how North Carolina’s State Bill 49 and House Bill 574 violate Title IX by “systematically marginalizing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students.”

State Bill 49, usually referred to as the “Parent’s Bill of Rights” or “Don’t Say Gay Bill,” heavily censures discussion around LGBTQ+ topics in public schools, in particular banning any instruction on gender identity or sexuality before the fifth grade. It also strengthens parental control over their children, requiring a parent’s consent for a student to receive mental health counseling and mandating that a student’s guardians are notified if the student chooses to go by a different name or pronouns at school.

House Bill 574 targets transgender students in particular, banning trans athletes from participating in teams of their preferred gender. It specifically bans trans women athletes, stating, “Athletic teams designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex … based solely on the student’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

The complaint filed by the Campaign for Southern Equality alleges that these two bills create a “hostile educational environment” for queer and transgender youth and violate Title IX’s “obligations to provide every student with a safe and non-discriminatory environment.” This is not the first time North Carolina’s laws have been called into question under Title IX, though in this case the complaint is being made at the federal level, against the entire state.

So what happens from here? The U.S. government has made its stance of “Don’t Say Gay” laws clear in the past; President Biden has called them “hateful” and promised to fight against them. However, it’s important to note that North Carolina is not the only state with such a bill, as over a dozen states have either passed or are looking to pass similar legislation. In addition, according to Craig White (a spokesperson for the Campaign for Southern Equality), the federal Office for Civil Rights, which handles Title IX cases, has a considerable backlog of complaints, and we have no idea how long they might take to look at this particular case.