I want to begin by thanking Eugene for inviting me to blog on my new article about Title IX and Sports, Gender Identity, Sports, and Affirmative Action: What's Title IX Got To Do With It? I'm a long-time reader and fan of the VC.
Back many years ago (more than I care to remember), my organization (the Center for Individual Rights) and I represented plaintiffs in lawsuits challenging the elimination of male sports teams at colleges or universities, usually wrestling teams. Our mantra was that the Department of Education demanded, and the schools applied, a "quota" for female sports teams based on the percentage of females in the undergraduate population. (Calling things we sued over a "quota" was the legal strategy du jour back in the day.) We consistently lost.
Fast forward fifteen or twenty years. The new Title IX-related issue was whether transgender females should be permitted to play on female sports teams. The odd thing about the debate was that both sides claimed Title IX required its position. Those on the side of trans females playing on female teams said that precluding them from doing so was sex discrimination in violation of Title IX. Those against trans females playing on female teams said it would be sex discrimination if they did.
