“Title IX”

Monterey Herald—September 24, 2024

I read an article in the Herald on Sept. 17 about the expansion of the 1972 Title IX regulations against sexual harassment in the K-12 California Public Schools. This new regulation, which is currently on hold due to a Federal court injunction, expands the definition of sexual harassment to include LBGTQ and cross-gender identifying students. What could go wrong when this new regulation goes into effect? If Student A refers to Student B by the wrong pronoun, Student A has committed sexual harassment. If the teacher informs the parent of Student B about this sudden pronoun change (and the parent doesn’t know), can the teacher be fired? How about female students who don’t like sharing the shower room with transgender females with male genitalia in the PE shower room? Does this constitute discrimination? This expansion of Title IX will not improve public education. It will result in more chaos and lawsuits and counter lawsuits. It will be expensive and further diminish our public education system.

— Carol Marquart, Pacific Grove