Biden Dept. of Justice Reverses Trump Order – Declares LGBTQ College students Are Now Protected by Legislation

In a major reversal of Trump-era legal policies, the US Department of Justice released a memo declaring that Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments protects LGBTQ students from discrimination, which prohibits gender discrimination in schools .

It’s a huge win for some of the most vulnerable people in the nation, and an interesting twist on the history books.

The March 26 memo, released today by The Hill and Law & Crime, was written by the same attorney who argued part of a major LGBTQ case in the US Supreme Court and won. That case paved the way for this new memo.

Pamela Karlan (photo) argued in the landmark Bostock case in 2019, telling the court without a doubt: “If an employer fires a male employee for dating men, but does not dismiss female employees who date men, he is in breach of Title VII. The employer has … discriminated against the man because he treats this man worse than women who want to do the same. And that discrimination is due to gender. “

The Court ruled 6-3 that anti-LGBTQ discrimination is sex discrimination and is therefore illegal.

“After examining the text of Title IX, the case law of the Supreme Court and the evolution of case law in this area, the Division has determined that the best reading of Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination ‘based on sex’ is that it is based on discrimination of includes gender identity and sexual orientation, ”wrote Karlan, who now serves as assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.

Karlan’s memo, along with a broader Biden Executive Ordinance, repeals a Trump Executive Ordinance that specifically states that the Bostock ruling is strictly for employment only.

Karlan is also the same attorney who testified during Trump’s first impeachment and explained why his actions constitute bribery.

Joseph Michael Stern of Slate notes, “Pam Karlan is one of the few people who has won a civil rights case in the Supreme Court and then enforced that decision as a federal civil rights officer. That has to feel good. “

For them and for millions of LGBTQ students.