Catholic Bishops and Educators Condemn New Trans Sports Proposal

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WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - Catholic bishops and educators are condemning a proposed rule change that would demand federally funded schools allow males to participate in females' sports.

On Monday, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Catholic Educational Association and the Catholic University of America submitted to the U.S. Department of Education a joint statement rejecting gender ideology and calling on the Department to deny the proposed rule change.

The Catholic coalition stated, "We respectfully recommend that the Department abandon this rulemaking."

On April 6, the Biden administration proposed a new federal rule change to Title IX regulations that would prevent schools from enacting across-the-board bans on so-called transgender athletes.

Title IX prohibits sex discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funding, and the proposed rule change would, according to the Department of Education, "establish that policies violate Title IX when they categorically ban transgender students from participating on sports teams."

The Catholic coalition — which filed its statement on May 15, the last day of the public comment period — wrote, "The [proposal] imposes an inaccurate view of human nature and sexuality."

The statement from Catholic institutions follows White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre's recent comments declaring war on states that are not going along with gender ideology. Last week at the 2023 GLAAD Media Awards, Jean-Pierre, a lesbian, endorsed child genital mutilation, saying that those in opposition to the castration of minors need to be called out.

"These are our kids. They belong to all of us," she claimed.

The White House press secretary's promotion of so-called sex-reassignment surgery for minors is the position of the entire Democrat Party.

Joe Biden, during his presidential run in 2020, was confronted with a question about what he would do to protect so-called transgender people. The question came from a mother claiming to have an 8-year-old transgender daughter. 

Biden responded, "The idea that an 8-year-old child or a 10-year-old child decides ... 'I want to be transgender ... it'd make my life a lot easier' ... [t]here should be zero discrimination."

Since then, he has followed up on that position, not only working to enforce new gender confusion laws, but also appointing a record number of LGBT officials. They include a gay cabinet member, press secretary and State Department spokesmen, along with a "trans" assistant secretary for health and a "gender-fluid" nuclear engineer.

Just two days ago, Biden's pick for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, called for "an end to harmful conversion therapy practices."

The Catholic coalition, which condemned the promotion of gender confusion, stated that "'being a man or 'being a woman'" is a "fundamental aspect of human existence."

Further, the coalition noted, the human body is "intrinsically connected with human sexual differentiation" and it expresses "a person's unitive and procreative finality."

If the rule change goes through, Catholic schools receiving federal funding could be affected, but they'd be able to file for a religious exemption. According to the organizations comprising the coalition, the religious exemption should be relatively simple.

The coalition's statement reads, "The application of the religious exemption to a religious school's internal policies on sports participation should be straightforward: the school should be free to adhere to its religious beliefs in how it runs its athletics programs."

If Catholic schools are forced to abide by these new federal rules, Catholic administrators will have to choose between obeying the State or obeying their Catholic conscience.

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