Queering Title IX: Protecting Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students from Discrimination, Harassment, and Violence

ABSTRACT

Transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) students have unique barriers to success. One method to reduce these barriers is expanding Title IX protections to TGNC students. We adopt a feminist and queer jurisprudence lens to investigate current Title IX guidance. A content analysis of current guidance reveals that only the initial forms of feminist jurisprudence are present in the early guidance. Later guidance displays harmful distortions of feminist jurisprudence, limiting its ability to effectively protect TGNC students from discrimination. We discuss how recent iterations of feminist and queer jurisprudence would more effectively protect TGNC students from discrimination.

KEYWORDS:

• Title IX
• feminist jurisprudence
• queer theory
• transgender students
• gender discrimination

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

1. The authors use LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus all the identities related) to refer to broad communities of people with diverse sexualities and gender identities. The authors use the more specific term TGNC (transgender and gender non-conforming) to refer to broad communities of people with diverse genders, gender identities, and gender expressions. This is intentional. When citing specific studies or reports, the authors will use the language of the source for accuracy when possible.