BERWYN, Pa., Feb. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Recent
developments have prompted ATIXA to revise and reissue its position
statement on the protections of transgender and transitioning
people under Title IX. The arguments for inclusion remain largely
unchanged, however the history of the issue has been edited to
reflect changes in the current political winds.
This ATIXA position statement reflects the importance of
protections for gender nonconformity, gender identity, gender
expression, transitioning and transgender status conferred by Title
IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Allegations of such
discrimination should be subject to a civil rights, equity-based
response from any educational program or activity receiving federal
financial assistance. ATIXA strongly endorses and supports these
protections and encourages their full implementation within all
schools, colleges and universities subject to Title IX.
Because the verbiage of Title IX itself is broad in its
protections, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights'
(OCR) interpretation of the law has evolved over time,
progressively focusing on employment discrimination, equity in
athletics, sexual harassment and sexual violence. OCR and the
courts are now debating whether the Title IX lens should focus on
the rights of gender-nonconforming and transgender individuals to
ensure their access to the full benefits of federally funded
educational programs.[1]
To read the history of this issue, please see our full position
statement.
As schools establish new policy and turn toward
best practices now in the absence of federal guidance, ATIXA
encourages broad consideration of the very real barriers to
education faced by students identifying as transgender. To be
clear, schools are now free to protect transgender and
transitioning students as much as they want, unless there is state
law to the contrary, and many state laws explicitly include gender
identity and expression as protected classes.
ATIXA supports gender nonconforming and transgender individuals
enrolled and/or employed by schools and colleges and welcomes the
diversity they bring. ATIXA hopes that its members will endeavor to
assure that school and college communities will be safe, hospitable
and supportive for those gender nonconforming and transgender
individuals within our communities.
ABOUT ATIXA
Founded in 2011, ATIXA is the nation's
only membership association dedicated solely to compliance with
Title IX and the support of our more than 3,000 administrator
members who hold Title IX responsibilities in schools and colleges.
ATIXA is the leading provider of Title IX training and
certification, having certified more than 3,000 Title IX
coordinators and more than 8,000 Title IX investigators since 2011.
ATIXA releases position statements on matters of import to our
members and the field, as authorized by the ATIXA Board of
Advisors. For more information, visit
www.atixa.org.
Media Contact:
Michelle Issadore
147862@email4pr.com
610-993-0229
[1] Simply speaking, transgender is
an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender
expression or behavior does not conform to that typically
associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.
Gender identity refers to a person's internal sense of being
male, female or something else; gender expression refers to
the way a person communicates gender identity to others through
behavior, clothing, hairstyles, voice or body characteristics. An
individual who is transgender may exhibit behavior ranging from a
boy wearing fingernail polish to someone having surgery to change
their sex, although not everyone whose appearance or behavior is
gender-nonconforming will identify as a transgender person.
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SOURCE Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA)