The United States Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona recently rolled out the federal government’s updated Title IX guidance to better protect women and girls from discrimination in education environments. Title IX is one of those key pieces of legislation that it’s hard to believe it took us until 1972 to pass.

You could also argue that it took far too long for this update to come around as our country, our communities, and our schools still have a long way to go to fully protect women and girls from discrimination, sexual assault, bullying, harassment, etc.

But Indiana is determined for this Title IX revision to go over like a lead balloon. State Attorney General Todd Rokita joined a lawsuit alongside attorneys general from Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia seeking to block this legislative change.

The most specific issue their lawsuit’s complaint seems to hang its hat on is that they believe these updated guidelines will “perversely hamper fair competition in women’s sports.” The problem is the federal government’s fact sheet makes clear that, “The final regulations do not include new rules governing eligibility criteria for athletic teams.” While this lawsuit may be concerned about transgender students competing in girls’ sports, the federal government, at least right now, isn’t touching the issue, meaning it remains in the lap of the states to decide.

I’m sure for the states involved that the rest of this beef feels big enough to cook but it’s slim pickings at this potluck for me. I read it as a nonsense lawsuit in response to overblown fears about what are commonsense revisions to Title IX. But the wave Rokita joined is now hitting the shores of Indiana’s schools, and it may just erode critical federal funding.

Lawsuit splash damage

In light of the litigation against the Title IX changes, Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner delivered guidance to Hoosier schools indicating they should not update their Title IX policies until the pending lawsuit resolves. But that puts schools in a tricky spot. They are required to adopt the new federal guidelines by August 1 or else be in danger of losing federal funding through noncompliance.

It’s not chump change either. The current funding they could lose out on comes out to about $1,150 per student. Essentially, choose to discriminate in the eyes of the federal government and you jeopardize a necessary funding stream. I have no problem with this “stick” approach from the federal government. The original carrot (adopt these new guidelines to better protect your students) looks highly digestible.

The good news for schools is that nothing about the Indiana Department of Education’s guidance is binding. For instance, the Indiana School Boards Association Executive Director Terry Spradlin recommends that schools comply with the new guidelines. If litigation does force an about-face from Cardona, schools would have to switch gears. But, for Spradlin, better to plan ahead and be compliant than get caught out and possibly lose funding.

But what about that press release from Rokita?

I used a pretty light touch when I first mentioned the lawsuit Rokita joined. It’s worth returning to his rationale for joining the lawsuit as the inherent dignity of our students seems up for grabs in his eyes.

His statement about why he joined the lawsuit is a stunning read. I’m here for good-faith disagreements with the federal government 365 days a year. This is not that. But in the statement, he’s at least more up-front about his central issue than the legalese paraded in the lawsuit’s opening paragraphs. It’s clear he doesn’t believe that being transgender is real. Thus, his statement is able to spew a very inflammatory thing like, “The new rule allows biological men to invade…bathrooms and locker rooms.”

Yes, federal guidance does protect transgender students’ ability to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with. This does not mean school bathrooms will suddenly be inundated with perverted men, as Rokita seems to think. I could parse more of his statement but as Matthew McConaughey once said, “Go too deep and you’ll sink the ship.” The ship being my sanity.

Ultimately, there are compassionate, straightforward ways for schools to honor the dignity of transgender students without compromising the safety of women and girls. Federal guidelines are geared toward this reality. Rokita’s complaint is not. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. Rokita would rather we spit out the gum and walk backwards.