Athletes, teachers ask 11th Circuit to protect their freedom of speech, privacy, safety

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Natalie Thompson regarding a friend-of-the-court brief ADF attorneys filed Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on behalf of Female Athletes United and Christian Educators Association International in State of Alabama v. United States Secretary of Education. In the case, the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina are asking the 11th Circuit to protect their right to defend female athletes, students, and teachers’ privacy, safety, and freedom of speech by halting the Biden-Harris administration’s unlawful rewrite of Title IX while their case proceeds. Title IX is a federal law designed to create equal opportunities for female students in education and athletics:

“Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina are right to seek to preserve safety, privacy, and free speech for their students, female athletes, and teachers. The Biden-Harris administration’s radical redefinition of discrimination ‘on the basis of sex’ in Title IX upends our education system and ignores biological reality, science, and common sense. As we explain in our brief, under the administration’s Title IX rule, educators like those we represent face potential punishment for expressing their beliefs at school that men cannot become women or vice versa. In effect, the new rules create a nationwide speech code that polices teachers’ and students’ expression of their belief that men and women are different and threatens equal opportunities for girls in sports. We are urging the 11th Circuit to join other federal appeals courts in stopping the administration’s unlawful and dangerous extension of its authority.”

ADF attorneys have filed five similar lawsuits challenging the administration’s unlawful rewriting of Title IX. In those cases, they have won five victories temporarily halting the rule change at the federal district court level, and two victories at the federal appellate court level at the 5th Circuit and the 6th Circuit. In their brief filed with the 11th Circuit, the attorneys explain why that appeals court should follow suit in stopping the administration’s overreach of its executive authority.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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