Superintendent Ellen Weaver resists Title IX ruling protecting LGBTQ+ students

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — South Carolina's Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver is pushing to stop President Joe Biden's administration's new Title IX ruling.

In a letter shared by the South Carolina Department of Education, Weaver said she believes the rule will be tied up in "litigation for some time."

Other education superintendents have also told their school districts not to implement the new ruling, which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and broadened the range of sexual harassment complaints that schools need to respond to. Those other education superintendents who chose not to implement the new ruling include Oklahoma and Louisiana.

In South Carolina, Weaver's letter also mentions that "this ruling will eventually be struck down or modified in whole or in part by the federal courts."

READ MORE: "Fact Check Team: Biden administration expands Title IX protections in new set of rules."

"It's really disappointing when we see our top educator in the state, who's supposed to be leading our schools for all students, using this language that is dehumanizing and delegitimizes the actual real needs and lived experiences of LGBTQ-plus students," said Chase Glenn, the executive director for Alliance of Full Acceptance.

It has been a week since the Biden administration released the new Title IX ruling. It is designed to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ students and safeguard victims of campus sexual assault.

However, Weaver wants school districts not to follow the guidelines.

In a letter, Weaver emphasizes protecting women's sports, though it wasn't mentioned in the Biden administration's mandate. The American Civil Liberties Union believes Weaver is going out of her way to demean transgender students.

"I don't think I could say it better than my coach Dawn Staley," said Paul Bowers, the communications director for the ACLU of South Carolina. "She stood up and spoke in defense of her sport of women's basketball, and in defense of trans people. When we look at responses from this department of education, we have to take into account that Superintendent Weaver has made transgender people the butt of jokes."

READ MORE: "Biden's revision to Title IX boosts protections for LGBTQ+ students and assault victims."

Glenn sees the Biden administration's ruling as a step to further protect against discrimination.

"Ideally, our school leaders will see this ruling and will understand that this expands those protections, and explicitly names LGBTQ-plus students as being included and protected against this sort of discrimination," Glenn said. "When you have groups of students who are being actively discriminated against, are being targeted, are being harassed, that doesn't create a space where those students feel safe and can learn effectively. The language that has been put out by the Biden administration is just reaffirming the language that we already have in place."

News 4 reached out to the South Carolina Department of Education for an interview and did not hear back.

The Biden administration's Title IX ruling goes into effect Aug. 1.