Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

MEDIA CONTACT: 

MSLF Communications Dept.  

Stanton Skerjanec & Carina Constancio 

(303)-292-2021 

communications@mslegal.org 

PREFERRED PRONOUN POLICIES ABOUT TO BE MANDATORY NATIONWIDE IF BIDEN’S NEW TITLE IX CHANGES GO THROUGH 

Mountain States Legal Foundation testifies against proposed Title IX changes as they would undermine Free Speech and Due Process 

Yesterday morning, MSLF General Counsel William E. Trachman, along with Cece O’Leary from Southeastern Legal Foundation, testified before the Executive Office of the President regarding the federal civil rights law Title IX. The two urged the Biden Administration not to make any proposed changes to federal regulations that would (1) undermine free speech; (2) destroy due process on campus; and (3) take a workable system and turn it into an unpredictable and unwieldly system. 

The Biden Administration’s changes would trample on free speech rights by lowering the standard for what constitutes sexual harassment, and by prohibiting “discrimination” based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In other words, “preferred pronoun” policies would be mandatory throughout the country, and schools and students alike would be compelled to affirm and validate any number of genders and sexual orientations, in violation of the First Amendment. 

In 2020, the Trump Administration enshrined into federal law for the first time protections against sexual harassment on campus. And those protections were carefully balanced with the need to preserve due process for both complainants and respondents. But the Biden Administration has proposed upsetting the balance, by eliminating many of the due process protections—like the right to see the evidence against you, and the right to cross-examination—and instead putting schools on notice that the federal government is watching their every move. 

Mountain States hopes the Biden Administration takes our concerns to heart. But if they don’t, we look forward to taking the next steps to protect the legal and constitutional rights of students, school personnel, and all Americans. 

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Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) is a nonprofit, public-interest legal foundation established in 1977. MSLF’s mission is to protect and restore those rights enshrined in the Constitution of the United States of America, through pro bono litigation. MSLF protects individual liberty, the right to own and use property, the principles of limited and ethical government, and the benefits of the free enterprise system.