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Biden admin expands Title IX to include ‘gender identity,’ sparking conservative backlash

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From LifeSiteNews

By Louis Knuffke

“It will be the end of women’s sports, sex-segregated restrooms, locker rooms, sororities, and dorms – all vanquished by an administrative state fiat that almost no one supports”

The Biden administration published on Friday changes to the Title IX discrimination law to now include “gender identity, setting the stage for legal fights with nearly half the states, which have passed laws to protect women and children from the transgender ideology.

The newly published Title IX regulations expand the federal government’s prohibition against “discrimination” to now include under its umbrella “discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.” 

The move has drawn strong public criticism from conservatives, who have rallied behind the protection of women and children from transgender ideology in schools and public spaces, and the erosion of basic safeguards such as sex-exclusive locker rooms, restrooms, and sports. 

Rep. Julianne Young, member of the Idaho legislature who introduced the Gem State’s recent Definition of Sex law (which affirms that “there are only two sexes, male and female”) expressed her outrage at the administration’s abuse of a law originally meant to protect women so that it now does just the opposite. 

In comments to LifeSiteNews on Biden’s new changes to Title IX, Young stated, “It is outrageous and unconscionable that the Biden administration is now using civil rights law created to protect women to assault them, undermining their privacy, dignity, and safety!” 

Heritage Foundation conservative policymaker Jay Richards, who has worked extensively on legislation regarding transgender issues, told LifeSiteNews that, “The new rule interpreting title IX is, in fact, an assault on the point of the law itself. The law is intended to protect Americans against sex discrimination. But the new rule defines sex – the biological difference between male and female – to include ‘gender identity.’ Gender identity refers to a supposed internal subjective state. It is manifestly not the same as biological sex. This new rule is a paradigmatic example of using the rulemaking process to subvert a law duly passed by Congress. If applied, it will mean the destruction of women’s rights in particular.” 

Brandon Showalter, host of the Christian Post podcast Generation Indoctrination: Inside the Transgender Battle, and co-author of the book Exposing the Gender Lie, told LifeSiteNews: 

The spirit of the age, the great lie of our time, is rooted in a heinous, false anthropology – that an ineffable ‘gender identity’ known only to the person claiming to have one – defines a human being at the most basic, ontological level. When a material falsehood such as ‘you are whatever you say you feel’ is enshrined in government policy, as it has been in the recently revamped Title IX regulations, there are real-world consequences and women are girls almost always bear the cruelest brunt. Human beings are only ever always either male or female. No one has ever been born in the wrong sexed body and no one ever will be. All people of goodwill must continue to resist the abuse and degradation that gender ideology is wreaking on humanity.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, (R-NC) chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, also strongly condemned the new regulation saying, “This final rule dumps kerosene on the already raging fire that is Democrats’ contemptuous culture war that aims to radically redefine sex and gender.”  

Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who oversaw Trump administration reform of Title IX, which strengthened protections for women, told the Washington Examiner in February that Biden’s changes “may well be the most anti-woman regulation of all time.” 

“It will be the end of women’s sports, sex-segregated restrooms, locker rooms, sororities, and dorms – all vanquished by an administrative state fiat that almost no one supports, which is why the Biden administration advanced it in the dark of night,” she warned. “Every parent and child should be horrified this rule is moving forward.” 

DeVos said the new regulation “returns us to the untenable days where there is no due process on campus and instead radical gender ideologues call all the shots.” 

“The rule is sexist, illegal, and unpopular, but appeasing the far-left flank is more important to the Biden administration than doing what’s right for students,” she insisted. 

In a press release following the changes to Title IX, Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Rachel Rouleau said, “The Biden administration’s radical redefinition of sex turns back the clock on equal opportunity for women, threatens student safety and privacy, and undermines fairness in women’s sports. It is a slap in the face to women and girls who have fought long and hard for equal opportunities.”  

“The administration continues to ignore biological reality, science, and commonsense, and women are suffering as a result. The administration’s new regulation will have devastating consequences on the future of women’s sports, student privacy, and parental rights, which is why Alliance Defending Freedom plans to take action to defend female athletes, as well as school districts, teachers, and students who will be gravely harmed by this unlawful government overreach,” Rouleau stated. 

In May 2023, a group of 22 Republican senators led by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, called on the president to withdraw the proposed changes to Title IX, arguing they ran contrary to Congress’ clear intention in passing the law.  

“Congress made clear that its intention in passing Title IX was to prohibit discrimination against women participating fully in all aspects of athletic and academic opportunity at institutions that received federal financial assistance,” the senators wrote. “This proposed rule uses weakly-associated case law and polarizing social concepts to broaden the definition of women and girls to include individuals who identify as women, and in doing so, the intent of the law is destroyed and women are marginalized yet again.” 

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illegal immigration

Flight Docs Reveal Which Cities Are Receiving Migrants Under Biden’s Parole Program

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By JASON HOPKINS

 

Nearly 200,000 migrants from four countries have flown into America’s biggest airports under a Biden administration parole program, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents reveal.

The House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday publicized documents, obtained through a subpoena to DHS, that identifies over 50 airport locations used by the federal government to process hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals via a parole program between January-August 2023. About 200,000 foreign nationals were processed under the program — known as the Humanitarian Parole for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, or CHNV — which was initially launched in October 2022 and grants a two-year parole period as well as work authorization eligibility.

Of the top 15 airport locations used for the parole program, Florida cities stood out as a major destination of choice for those flying into a port of entry between the January-August 2023 time period.

Miami was the top destination, with 91,821 people. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida was second with 60,461. New York City came in at third with 14,827. The other destinations rounding off the top 10 were Houston: 7,923; Orlando: 6,043: Los Angeles: 3,271; Tampa: 3237; Dallas: 2,256; San Francisco: 2,052; and Atlanta: 1,796.

The flight documents were shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation and first reported by Fox News.

CHNV Monthly flight data. Courtesy of the House Homeland Security Committee.

“In the documents, DHS further admits that none of these individuals have a legal basis to enter the country before being paroled through the program, stating, ‘All individuals paroled into the United States are, by definition, inadmissible, including those paroled under the CHNV Processes,’” according to a press release from the House Homeland Security Committee.

So far, over 400,000 foreign nationals have arrived into the U.S. under the CHNV program. As of October 2023, roughly 1.6 million foreign nationals have applied to the program, according to the Homeland Security Committee.

The documents unearthed by the committee shed more light on where exactly these migrants have landed.

“These documents expose the egregious lengths Secretary Mayorkas will go to ensure inadmissible aliens reach every corner of the country, from Orlando and Atlanta to Las Vegas and San Francisco. Secretary Mayorkas’ CHNV parole program is an unlawful sleight of hand used to hide the worsening border crisis from the American people,” said GOP Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.

“Implementing a program that allows otherwise inadmissible aliens to fly directly into the U.S. — not for significant public benefit or urgent humanitarian reasons as the Immigration and Nationality Act mandates — has been proven an impeachable offense,” Green continued.

Republicans previously waged a lawsuit to block the parole program, but that effort was ultimately blocked by a federal judge in March.

At least six million migrant encounters have occurred at the southern border since President Joe Biden assumed office in 2021, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data reveal. During this time, his administration has shuttered a number of enforcement measures that were widely implemented under the Trump White House, such as Remain in Mexico and Title 42.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.

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COVID-19

States move to oppose WHO’s ‘pandemic treaty,’ assert states’ rights

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From LifeSiteNews

By Michael Nevradakis Ph. D.,

Utah and Florida passed laws intended to prevent the WHO from overriding states’ authority on matters of public health policy, and Louisiana and Oklahoma have legislation set to take effect soon pending final votes.

Two states have passed laws – and two states have bills pending – intended to prevent the World Health Organization (WHO) from overriding states’ authority on matters of public health policy.

Utah and Florida passed laws and Louisiana and Oklahoma have legislation set to take effect soon pending final votes. Several other states are considering similar bills.

The WHO member states will convene next month at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, to vote on two proposals – the so-called “pandemic accord” or “pandemic treaty,” and amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) – that would give the WHO sweeping new pandemic powers.

The Biden administration supports the two WHO proposals, but opposition is growing at the state level.

Proponents of the WHO’s proposals say they are vital for preparing humanity against the “next pandemic,” perhaps caused by a yet-unknown “Disease X.”

But the bills passed by state legislatures reflect frequently voiced criticisms that the WHO’s proposals imperil national sovereignty, medical and bodily sovereignty and personal liberties, and may lead to global vaccine mandates.

Critics also argue the WHO proposals may open the door to global digital “health passports” and global censorship targeting alleged “misinformation.”

Such criticisms are behind state legislative initiatives to oppose the WHO, on the basis that states’ rights are protected under the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Under the 10th Amendment, all powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states. Such powers, critics say, include public health policy.

It is encouraging to see states like Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Utah pass resolutions to clarify that the WHO has no power to determine health policy in their states. Historically, health has been the purview of state and local government, not the U.S. federal government.

There is no legitimate constitutional basis for the federal government to outsource health decision-making on pandemics to an international body. As state legislatures become aware of the WHO’s agenda, they are pushing back to assert their autonomy – and this is welcome.

Internist Dr. Meryl Nass, founder of Door to Freedom, told The Defender that, contrary to arguments that the drafters of the constitution could not foresee future public health needs, vaccines, doctors, and medicine were all in existence at the time the 10th Amendment was written. They were “deliberately left out,” she said.

READ: Thousands of protesters rally in Tokyo against proposed WHO pandemic treaty

This has implications for the federal government’s efforts in support of the WHO’s proposals, according to Nass. “The government doesn’t have the authority to give the WHO powers for which it lacks authority,” she said.

Tennessee state Rep. Bud Hulsey (R-Sullivan County) told The Epoch Times, “We’re almost to a place in this country that the federal government has trampled on the sovereignty of states for so long that in peoples’ minds, they have no options.”

“It’s like whatever the federal government says is the supreme law of the land, and it’s not. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land,” he added.

Utah, Florida laws passed

On January 31, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed Senate Bill 57, the “Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act,” into law. It does not mention the WHO, but prohibits “enforcement of a federal directive within the state by government officers if the Legislature determines the federal directive violates the principles of state sovereignty.”

In May 2023, Florida passed Senate Bill 252 (SB 252), a bill for “Protection from Discrimination Based on Health Care Choices.” Among other clauses, it prohibits businesses and public entities from requiring proof of vaccination or prophylaxis for the purposes of employment, receipt of services, or gaining entry to such entities.

According to Section 3 of SB 252:

A governmental entity as defined… or an educational institution… may not adopt, implement, or enforce an international health organization’s public health policies or guidelines unless authorized to do so under state law, rule, or executive order issued by the Governor.

Nass told The Defender that Florida’s legislation offers a back door through which the state can implement WHO policies because it allows a state law, rule, or executive order by the governor to override the bill. According to Nass, efforts to strengthen the bill have been unsuccessful.

SB 252 was one of four bills Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed in May 2023 in support of medical freedom. The other bills were House Bill 1387, banning gain-of-function researchSenate Bill 1580, protecting physicians’ freedom of speech, and Senate Bill 238, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of people’s medical choices.

Louisiana, Oklahoma also push back against the WHO

The Louisiana Senate on March 26 voted unanimously to pass Senate Law No. 133, barring the WHO, United Nations (U.N.) and World Economic Forum from wielding influence over the state.

According to the legislation:

No rule, regulation, fee, tax, policy, or mandate of any kind of the World Health Organization, United Nations, and the World Economic Forum shall be enforced or implemented by the state of Louisiana or any agency, department, board, commission, political subdivision, governmental entity of the state, parish, municipality, or any other political entity.

The bill is now pending Louisiana House of Representatives approval and if passed, is set to take effect August 1.

On April 24, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 426 (SB 426), which states, “The World Health Organization, the United Nations and the World Economic Forum shall have no jurisdiction in the State of Oklahoma.”

READ: Lawmakers, conservatives blast WHO plan for ‘global governance’ on future pandemics

According to the bill:

Any mandates, recommendations, instructions, communications or guidance issued by the World Health Organization, the United Nations or the World Economic Forum shall not be used in this state as a basis for action, nor to direct, order or otherwise impose, contrary to the constitution and laws of the State of Oklahoma any requirements whatsoever, including those for masks, vaccines or medical testing, or gather any public or private information about the state’s citizens or residents, and shall have no force or effect in the State of Oklahoma.

According to Door to Freedom, the bill was first introduced last year and unanimously passed the Senate. An amended version will return to the Senate for a new vote, and if passed, the law will take effect June 1.

Legislative push continues in states where bills opposing the WHO failed

Legislative initiatives opposing the WHO in other states have so far been unsuccessful.

In Tennessee, lawmakers proposed three bills opposing the WHO, but “none of them made it over the finish line,” said Bernadette Pajer of the CHD Tennessee Chapter.

“Many Tennessee legislators are concerned about the WHO and three of them filed resolutions to protect our sovereignty,” Pajer said. “Our legislature runs on a biennium, and this was the second year, so those three bills have died. But I do expect new ones will be filed next session.”

The proposed bills were:

  • House Joint Resolution 820(HJR 820), passed in the Tennessee House of Representatives. The bill called on the federal government to “end taxpayer funding” of the WHO and reject the WHO’s two proposals.
  • House Joint Resolution 1359(HJR 1359) stalled in the Delayed Bills Committee. It proposed that “neither the World Health Organization, United Nations, nor the World Economic Forum shall have any jurisdiction or power within the State of Tennessee.”
  • Senate Joint Resolution 1135(SJR 1135) opposed “the United States’ participation in the World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Prevention Preparedness and Response Accord (PPPRA) and urges the Biden Administration to withdraw our nation from the PPPRA.”

Amy Miller, a registered lobbyist for Reform Pharma, told The Defender she “supported these resolutions, especially HJR 1359. She said the bill “went to a committee where the sponsor didn’t think it would come out since a unanimous vote was needed and one of the three members was a Democrat.”

Tennessee’s HJR 820 came the closest to being enacted. According to Nass, this bill was “flawed,” as it “did not assert state sovereignty or the 10th Amendment.”

Another Tennessee bill, House Bill 2795 and Senate Bill 2775, “establishes processes by which the general assembly [of the state of Tennessee] may nullify an unconstitutional federal statute, regulation, agency order, or executive order.”

According to The Epoch Times, this would give Tennessee residents “the right to demand that state legislators vote on whether or not to enforce regulations or executive orders that violate citizens’ rights under the federal or state constitutions.” The bill is tabled for “summer study” in the Senate.

In May 2023, Tennessee passed legislation opposing “net zero” proposals and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals – which have been connected to “green” policies and the implementation of digital ID for newborn babies and for which the U.N. has set a target date of 2030 for implementation.

According to The Epoch Times, “Maine state Rep. Heidi Sampson attempted to get a ‘joint order’ passed in support of personal autonomy and against compliance with the WHO agreements, but it garnered little interest in the Democrat supermajority legislature.”

In Alabama, the Senate passed House Joint Resolution 113 opposing the WHO. The bill was reported out of committee but, according to Nass, it stalled.

Other states where similar legislation was proposed in the 2024 session or is pending include Georgia, IdahoIowaKentuckyMichiganNew HampshireNew JerseySouth Carolina, and Wyoming.

Recent Supreme Court ruling may curtail federal government’s powers

While opponents of the WHO’s proposed “pandemic agreement” and IHR amendments point to the states’ rights provision of the 10th Amendment, others argue that a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council allowed federal agencies to assert more authority to make laws.

The tide may be turning, however. According to The Epoch Times, “The current Supreme Court has taken some steps to rein in the administrative state, including the landmark decision in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, ruling that federal agencies can’t assume powers that Congress didn’t explicitly give them.”

Nass said that even in states where lawmakers have not yet proposed bills to oppose the WHO, citizens can take action, by contacting the office of their state governor, who can issue an executive order, or their attorney general, who can issue a legal opinion.

Door to Freedom has also developed a model resolution that state legislative bodies can use as the basis for their own legislation.

“It’s important for people to realize that if the federal government imposes something on the people, the people can go through their state’s powers to overturn it,” Nass said.

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

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