Federal judge limits Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students, 8 New Hanover Schools exempt
NEW HANOVER COUNTY (WWAY) — New Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students could lag behind in our area after a federal judge in Kansas blocked the new regulations.
26 states were included in that injunction, North Carolina was not.
However, Judge John Broomes included a provision that schools with students or parents that are members of Female Athletes United, Young America’s Foundation, or Moms for Liberty, are exempt from the new protections.
The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies Moms for Liberty as a far-right antigovernment organization. The organization has railed against LGTBQ+ protections since its inception in 2021.
As it stands, eight schools in New Hanover County will be exempt from enforcing the new protections:
- New Hanover County High School
- Ashley High School
- Hoggard High School
- Roland Grise Middle
- Myrtle Grove Middle
- Masonboro Elementary
- Codington Elementary
- Pine Valley Elementary
Title IX was originally passed in 1972 to protect against sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools. The new addition to Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Social Worker Angie Kahney worked with the sexual assault victims of former New Hanover County Schools Teacher Michael Kelly in 2019.
She said if the new protections are blocked in some schools, it would go against a settlement made between the board and Kelly’s victims.
“We’re in the midst of a settlement where the majority of that settlement says they have to meet Title IX protections for kids, and then they’re trying to find ways around those protections, it just doesn’t make sense,” Kahney said.
Although the court’s ruling exempts those schools from following the new regulations, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the district is exempt from enforcing them.
Kahney worries that if the board moves forward with cutting students of those schools out of the new protections, it will mean more hardship for marginalized students.
“And the same thing with the book bans and the battle of the books, and then with taking down all the displays in the classroom,” Kahney said. “Like, the real motivation there is to do harm to LGBTQ+ students. That’s just what it is.”
It’s still unclear how the school board will uphold the federal court’s decision, while also fulfilling their district-wide obligation to Title IX.
WWAY reached out to several school board members, none of whom would comment as of Monday evening.
The board will discuss the new regulations at their policy meeting next Tuesday.
The possibility of a higher court overruling the injunction is not off the table.
