Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Institutions, announced yesterday that the State Department of Education is suing President Joe Biden‘s Administration over its new Title IX rules. On X, Walters said, “Oklahoma will not comply with Title IX,” as he said the new rules allow boys to enter women’s restrooms and showers.
Title IX is a 1972 civil rights law that bars discrimination on the basis of sex in schools. The Biden Administration’s new rules expand the law by prohibiting discrimination and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
Walters is a vocal opponent of protections for trans students: Last year, he and the Oklahoma Department of Education released a video alleging that “radical gender theory… puts our girls in jeopardy.”
In the video he posted on X yesterday, Walters said Biden’s expanded Title IX rules are an “unconstitutional override.”
“The Biden Administration has weaponized the Federal Department of Education to trample girls sports,” Walters said, “to end protections that Title IX provided for women to make sure that girls can use the bathroom in a girls restroom without boys walking in, without boys walking into girls’ showers.”
He also said that “wokeism has rotted their brains.”
“We will not back down to Joe Biden’s woke agenda,” Walters said.
Though Walters also said that “girls sports will have a place in Oklahoma,” the Biden Administration’s expanded Title IX rules do not mention transgender athletes. It does, however, affirm that Title IX protects LGBTQ+ students and forces schools to deal with any “severe or pervasive” harassment or bullying that interferes with a student’s education.
Walters’ lawsuit comes after the tragic death of Nex Benedict, a transgender Oklahoma high school student who died after being beaten by their peers in a school bathroom. Their death was ruled a suicide.
The Superintendent and his anti-trans rhetoric were blamed by many for Benedict’s death and the treatment they received at school—and he is still facing backlash for it. Just last month, a speech he was giving at Oklahoma State University was interrupted by protestors shouting Benedict’s name.
Chaya Raichik, who runs Libs of TikTok, an anti-LGBTQ X account, was accused of being complicit in Benedict’s death due to her anti-trans posts online. In January, Walters appointed Raichik onto the Oklahoma Department of Education’s Library Advisory Committee.
Raichik shared Walters’ announcement of his lawsuit against the Biden Administration on X yesterday in support.
“Thank you Ryan!” Raichik tweeted. “More states need to follow. Do not let Biden erase women!”
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