Florida warns schools against following Biden’s LGBTQ student protections

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida education officials on Thursday urged schools across the state to disregard recent guidance from the Biden administration aiming to strengthen protections for transgender students under federal Title IX gender equity law.

In a widely distributed memo, Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. told school leaders that the federal policies are “not-binding” in Florida and “should not be treated as governing law.” Diaz, who was appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, warned that complying with the U.S. Department of Education could spell legal trouble under state law.

"The Department will not stand idly by as federal agencies attempt to impose a sexual ideology on Florida schools that risk the health, safety, and welfare of Florida students,” Diaz wrote in the memo, which was first reported by News Service of Florida.

This clear rebuke of the feds signals yet another dispute between DeSantis and the Biden administration, which have fought over measures in the past like the state’s controversial Parental Rights in Education bill and lax Covid-19 school policies.

The White House and LGBTQ supporters have accused DeSantis of battling transgender people, and the LGBTQ community overall. They have cited his support of a law, known by opponents of “Don’t Say Gay,” that prohibits classroom instructions on gender identity and sexual identity for kids in kindergarten through third grade and a state law that bans transgender athletes from competing in women and girl’s sports. How the federal Title IX changes will affect athletics remains uncertain.

“President Biden is attempting to force his radical agenda on Florida schools by holding hostage programs our students need,” said Alex Lanfranconi, director of communications at the Florida Department of Education, in a statement. “Our schools have no obligation to follow this federal guidance and will not be threatened into submission.”

Diaz’s memo is a response to a Title IX rule proposed by the Education Department to bolster protections for transgender students throughout the country by banning “all forms of sex discrimination, including discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation and gender identity.” The 1972 Title IX law bars sexual discrimination in any educational program that receives federal funding.

Previously, Diaz said that the federal plan amounted to “woke insanity,” but now Florida’s top education official has issued official guidance on the rules, which are currently on hold as a lawsuit plays out in federal court.

Diaz on Thursday told school districts, charter schools and private schools, that “nothing” in the federal guidance requires them “to give biological males who identify as female access to female bathrooms, locker rooms, or dorms” or to “assign biological males who identify as female to female rooms on school field trips” or to “allow biological males who identify as female to compete on female sports teams.”

Further, Diaz wrote that schools that employ any of these policies “jeopardize the safety and wellbeing of Florida students and risk violating Florida law,” pointing to legislation passed in 2021 that bans transgender athletes from playing girls and women’s sports.

“The Department will do everything in its power to protect the wellbeing of all Florida students and to vindicate the right of all parents to know what takes place in their child's classroom,” Diaz wrote.

The memo from Diaz appears to be at least partially inspired by a recent communication to schools from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, led by Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the state’s top elected Democrat who is also running for governor. As such, Diaz instructed schools to “disregard” efforts by Fried’s agency suggesting that they should comply with federal Title IX guidelines and post "And Justice for All" posters.

A USDA memo in May expanded the agency’s interpretation of federal sex discrimination rules, which could trigger states to lose crucial funding under the Food and Nutrition Act and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Students who quality for SNAP assistance are eligible for free school lunches.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody joined attorneys general in other Republican states last month in opposing the move, arguing that it “imposes new and unlawful regulatory measures on state agencies” and “will inevitably result in regulatory chaos that threatens essential nutritional services to some of the most vulnerable citizens.”

This week, Republican attorneys general from 20 states sued the Biden administration over the schools lunch program that bans discrimination against LGBTQ students. Moody was not part of the lawsuit.

The guidance from FLDOE also came one day after a private Christian school in Tampa sued the Biden administration and Fried over the Title IX policies, claiming low-income students could lose out on their free lunches.

Officials at Grant Park Christian Academy, which is being represented by attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, argue that the school’s religious beliefs “preclude it from complying with a federal mandate to substitute gender identity for biological sex in any aspect of its activities, especially when it comes to males sharing restrooms, private spaces, and programs with females, and vice versa.”

DeSantis had previously called Biden “off his rocker” over the new Title IX protections, saying in June that his administration will be “fighting on that.”