On August 13, 2024, the National Women’s Law Center, together with Democracy Forward and 41 additional organizations dedicated to gender justice, filed an amicus brief in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Tennessee v. Cardona. This is a case brought by six states, including Tennessee, challenging the Biden administration’s Title IX rule. Those states are arguing that the Title IX rule is wrong to clarify that sex discrimination includes discrimination based on gender identity, and that Title IX does not require schools to protect the rights of transgender and nonbinary students to access restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.

Our brief supports the Title IX rule, explaining that the states’ arguments against inclusion are based on myths about transgender students and debunking those myths. We argue that the rule should be allowed to go into effect because it is correct as a matter of law, and it will prevent real harms to transgender students as well as all students. Moreover, we explain, the states’ allegations that the rule poses harm to cisgender students are factually unsupported.