LITTLE ROCK, AR – Independent Women’s Voice (IWV) applauds Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders for defending Title IX and women’s sex-based rights against President Biden’s illegal attempt to gut the landmark civil rights law.
Title IX was enacted in 1972 to outlaw sex discrimination in federally funded programs and expand educational opportunities for women and girls. But a new administrative rule, released on April 19 by the Biden administration, turns Title IX on its head, requiring schools to allow males to self-identify into women’s spaces, opportunities, and athletics.
In an Executive Order signed today, and inspired by IWV’s Women’s Bill of Rights, Governor Sanders directs state officials to continue enforcing Title IX and Arkansas state law as written, not as twisted by President Biden in his flagrantly illegal administrative rule. The Governor’s order makes clear that common sex-based words are to be legally defined according to science, not woke ideology. Independent Women’s Voice Ambassador Riley Gaines joined the governor at today’s signing ceremony.
Sanders is the first female governor to affirm that the meaning of sex-based terms used in law is not fungible, and she is the first female governor to resist President Biden’s unlawful attempt to replace and erase women by administrative fiat.
“Title IX was created to protect women. But Biden’s Title IX attempts to erase women completely,” said Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “If Biden gets his way, female college students will shower and change next to male college students. Referring to someone using biologically correct pronouns will get you hauled in front of a disciplinary board for harassment. Scholarships previously reserved for women will now be open to anyone claiming to be a woman. My message to Joe Biden and the federal government is that we will not comply.”
Riley Gaines, Independent Women’s Voice Ambassador, said, “Governor Sanders is taking decisive action to protect Title IX, prevent unjust sex discrimination, save women’s sports, and protect our privacy. In signing this executive order, inspired by our Women’s Bill of Rights, Governor Sanders has proven herself a true champion of women.”
Jennifer C. Bracaras, Vice President for Legal Affairs and Founder of Independent Women’s Law Center, said: “We are living in Orwellian times where leftists say the exact opposite of what they mean, and the media accepts their ‘newspeak’ unquestioningly. Here, the Biden administration claims that its new Title IX rule enforces the landmark law that prohibits sex discrimination. In fact, the new rule violates Title IX by discriminating against women and denying female students equal educational opportunities. We are grateful to Gov. Sanders for standing against sex discrimination, enforcing Title IX, and resisting implementation of this misogynistic and unlawful rule.”
In issuing this executive order, Arkansas joins other states inspired by Women’s Bill of Rights legislation, including Kansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Idaho, all of which have enacted measures to legally define sex consistent with science. Alabama, Iowa, Louisiana, and Mississippi are also advancing legislation inspired by the Women’s Bill of Rights this session.
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Independent Women’s Voice fights for women by expanding support for policy solutions that aren’t just well intended, but actually enhance freedom, opportunities, and well-being.