Justice Department Cites Title IX on Behalf of Gay Teen
By Ryan J. Reilly | January 15, 2010
http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/01/15/justice-department-cites-title-ix-on-behalf-of-gay-teen/ (http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/01/15/justice-department-cites-title-ix-on-behalf-of-gay-teen/)
The Obama administration has intervened in a court case on behalf of a gay teenager by using a novel but not unprecedented interpretation of a law intended to ban gender discrimination.
For the first time since President Bill Clinton was in office, the Justice Department is arguing that the protections against sex discrimination laid out in the Title IX amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 apply to gender identity as well.
The documents were filed in the Northern District of New York in connection with a private lawsuit against a school district where a student was allegedly harassed because he is effeminate. The government said it had "authority to intervene to seek relief from denials of equal protection if the matter is certified as a matter of general public importance," as certified by Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez.