Latest news with #EducationAmendments
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Parents group urges Trump admin to investigate YMCA over gender identity policies
A parents' group is urging the Trump administration to investigate the YMCA for what it claims is "unlawful gender-based discrimination in its programs and policies." "The YMCA's policy of disfavoring and imperiling young girls and favoring and empowering those who choose to present as a gender other than their own is antithetical to the principles of federal civil rights law and gender equality," Alleigh Marré, executive director of the American Parents Coalition, said in a letter directed to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner. "It is morally wrong and legally impermissible," Marré added in the letter sent Tuesday. Trump Admin To Probe Illinois School Over Allegations Girls Were Forced To Change In Front Of Trans Student Archived pages of the YMCA's website called, "How to Create a Safe Space for LGBTQ+ Campers," and dated July 3, 2017, read "Ensure all campers and staff have access to the facilities aligned with their gender identity and comfort within facility and resource limitations." The page also recommends that youth development professionals "use gender-neutral (or self-identified) pronouns when referencing guardians/parents, partners, families and significant others," and "lift up stories of LGBTQ+ inclusion in trainings, marketing and camp activities." Read On The Fox News App Another archived page, "Affirming LGBTQ+ Communities with Pride," and dated June 7, 2022, states that the institution is meant to unite people "no matter their ability, age, cultural background, ethnicity, faith, gender expression, gender identity, ideology, income, national origin, race or sexual orientation." A current page on the YMCA's website titled, "For All," states that "The Y is made up of people of all ages, from all backgrounds, working side-by-side to strengthen communities. Together, we work to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential with dignity." It adds that their "core values are caring, honesty, respect and responsibility — they guide everything we do." Marré and the American Parents Coalition claim the YMCA is engaging in unlawful gender-based discrimination in its programs and policies and allege the YMCA is violating Title IX since the organization is a recipient of federal funds. On its website, the YMCA states that it receives over $600 million in government grants and over $930 million in non-government grants. "As a recipient of federal financial assistance, it is obligated to comply with the mandates of Title IX of the Education Amendments," the APC letter reads. Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex or gender for entities that receive federal funding. "There is little room for interpretation where the law is so explicit," the letter reads. "This broad prohibition underscores the law's role in eliminating gender-based barriers to women's equal participation in all aspects of programming and activities, providing for "the women of America something that is rightfully theirs—an equal chance. The YMCA's policies permitting biological men to invade the sanctity of spaces set aside for women undoubtably violates this law." Ohio College 'Illegally Forcing Students' To Share Bathrooms With Opposite Sex: Watchdog The letter also highlights various instances of recent issues at several YMCA locations where women have been subjected to change in the same facilities as men. One such instance was in Kansas City, Missouri, where a biological male is being accused of allegedly exposing themselves to a seven-year-old girl while she was with her mother at a YMCA in North Kansas City. It also mentions a 2022 incident where a 17-year-old girl claimed she saw a transgender woman changing in a women's locker room at a California YMCA. "Perhaps most concerning is not what is known of the YMCA's gender policies, but what is yet unknown. In recent weeks, the YMCA has either restricted access to the portions of its website that deal with gender policies or has taken down those pages altogether," the letter claims. "By no means should one expect that the YMCA is changing its gender policies; rather, the YMCA is shielding those policies and future policies from public scrutiny." The letter also highlights Trump's Jan. 20 executive order banning the use of federal funds to promote gender ideology. Fox News Digital reached out to the Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Education, as well as the YMCA for article source: Parents group urges Trump admin to investigate YMCA over gender identity policies
National Geographic
05-03-2025
- Politics
- National Geographic
Why March is Women's History Month in the U.S.
As a graduate of one of the newly founded women's studies programs at California's Sonoma State University in the 1970s, educator Molly Murphy MacGregor asked the same question as Lerner and others. Administrators at the high school where she taught had tried to pressure her to cancel a class on women's history, arguing that there was simply not enough material to fill six weeks of instruction. Textbooks that did cover basic women's history buried it—for example, one text said Congress gave women the right to vote in 1920 without mentioning the work of pioneering suffragists who fought for that civil right. Having created the first Women's History Week, the National Women's History Alliance lobbied Congress to recognize March as Women's History Month. Founders (right to left): Molly Murphy MacGregor, Paula Hammett, Mary Ruthsdotter, Maria Cuevas, and Bette Morgan. Courtesy of the National Women's History Alliance Where were the women? she wondered. 'The history of women in the United States seemed to be written in invisible ink,' MacGregor recalled in a 2020 PBS documentary. The first Women's History Week MacGregor was spurred to action. In the late 1970s, she put together a slideshow on the history of American women in areas like politics, environmental activism, and the abolitionist movement and was amazed at the response. Students came away from the presentations with newfound pride and an interest in the stories of women like Harriet Tubman and Rachel Carson. But when MacGregor learned that students rarely checked out or were assigned the tiny assortment of women's history books available in local elementary schools, she took action by joining the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women. The commission had been created in 1975 and tasked with eliminating gender discrimination and prejudice. One of its goals was to help Sonoma County schools comply with Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments—a landmark law that protects people from discrimination based on sex in any educational program that receives funding from the federal government.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NC House Republican lawmaker introduces bill to remove DEI from NC government
North Carolina General Assembly (File Photo) North Carolina House Majority Leader Brenden Jones, a Republican representing Columbus and Robeson counties, filed legislation Friday to purge all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives from state and local government. House Bill 171, titled 'Equality in State Agencies/Prohibition on DEI,' would remove measures supporting DEI from state agencies and government. The bill declares that state agencies will not 'promote, support, fund, implement, or maintain workplace DEI programs, policies, or initiatives,' such as using DEI in hirings and employment, maintaining staff positions or offices dedicated to DEI, or offering or requiring DEI training, according to its text. This follows national action via an executive order titled 'Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing' authorized by President Donald Trump last month upon his return to the White House. Jones also proposes banning state agencies and local governments from using public funds to promote DEI programs. The bill includes a provision aimed at preventing conflict with Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Additionally, the text mentions compliance with any 'other applicable [s]tate or federal law,' but does not provide additional clarification. State agencies and local governments would need to prepare for the state auditor and publicly share on their websites a report analyzing actions taken to comply with this measure, according to the bill text. This requirement would begin on Feb. 1, 2026 and take place annually in the following years. The state auditor would then need to submit a consolidated report to the General Assembly's Joint Legislative Commission on Government Operations by April 1, 2026, as well as annually after. 'Taxpayer dollars should fund merit, not woke agendas and identity politics,' Jones shared on social media. 'This bill upholds equal opportunity and ensures employment and contracts are based on qualifications, not quotas.' Jones told NC Newsline in a statement that 'DEI policies have undermined fairness and efficiency in North Carolina's state and local government, prioritizing political agendas over merit and qualifications.' Republican Representatives Neal Jackson (Moore, Randolph), Jarrod Lowery (Robeson), and Blair Eddins (Alexander, Wilkes) joined Jones as primary sponsors for the bill. Read the bill here: Jones-DEI-bill
