National Crittenton Applauds the Department of Education’s Release of New Title IX Regulations & Celebrates 50 Years of Title IX

The proposed regulations will protect girls, young women and gender expansive young people from sexual violence in education settings, including important protections for LGBTQI+ students and pregnant and parenting students.

(PORTLAND, OR): At National Crittenton, we envision a world in which all cis and trans girls, young women and gender-expansive young people can achieve potential and live unapologetically liberated lives without fear of violence and injustice. Today—as we mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX— the U.S. Department of Education released new Title IX regulations that prioritize the protection of survivors, a critical step for advancing gender justice in schools.

Changes to Title IX made under the last administration removed protections for survivors of sexual assault, made it harder for students to report assault and limited the ability of schools to investigate and address sexual violence.  These changes put girls and young folx in harm’s way.  The proposed Title IX regulations released today by the Biden Administration return us to a more inclusive definition of sexual assault, and restore crucial protections for students who are victims of sexual harassment, assault, and sex-based discrimination.

“Girls and gender-expansive young people need an education free from discrimination and violence of any kind, including sexual violence,” said National Crittenton President, Jeannette Pai-Espinosa. “The changes to Title IX in the last Administration ripped back protections for girls*, and were devastating to their ability to thrive.  We are thrilled to finally see proposed regulations that build back these protections, and we applaud the much-needed protections specifically for LGBTQIA2S+ young people and pregnant and parenting students who we know face additional barriers to safety.”

There is still so much more work to do to achieve justice, healing and opportunity for girls*, young women, including young moms in school, and young people across the gender spectrum, and to ensure that schools not only offer protections from sexual violence, but are culturally-responsive and trauma-informed.  We know these proposed Title IX regulations are important, but are only one step.  Girls, young women and gender-expansive young people experience violence of multiple forms within and out of school and campus settings.  Girls of color are over-disciplined in schools, and face increased risks of police violence in their communities; trans girls and young women of color face an epidemic of violence across the U.S.; girls and young people that are system-involved face pervasive violence across welfare and the juvenile justice systems, as examples.  Our mission at National Crittenton is to ensure that girls live free of violence at the intersection of all their identities and in every space they exist.  This means ensuring that as we do the hard work to build a vision for gender justice for the next 50 years, we center girls, young people and survivors that face the most barriers to safety.