Education Secretary Falls Apart When Asked Whether He Would Force His Daughter to Undress In Front of Men

The Biden administration last month announced a revamping of Title IX rules ostensibly intended to protect transgender college students. The move was met with condemnation and lawsuits challenging the new rules.

Now, White House officials are in the hot seat, being forced to explain and defend this decision. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona recently gave testimony before the Senate. Sen. Burgess Owens (R-UT) grilled Cardona, asking him whether he would allow his daughter to be forced to deal with biological men in women’s space. Naturally, the secretary had trouble answering.

President Joe Biden’s administration released a finalized rule in April that extends Title IX protection to encompass “sexual orientation” and “gender identity,” but it does not address transgender athletes. Cardona refused to answer the questions from Republican Utah Rep. Burgess Owens, saying he would not comment on rules related to athletics that his department has not yet proposed.

“Would you force your daughter to undress in the bathroom with boys, who are also undressing?” Owens asked.

“I am not going to be commenting on athletics rules that we haven’t proposed,” Cardona answered.

Owens pressed Cardona for a “yes or no” answer but the secretary declined to provide one, saying he would “be happy” to discuss Title IX.

“If your daughter was reported, she felt uncomfortable in a boy’s presence in a bathroom or locker room, would that be considered by your administration to be discrimination or bigotry?” Owns followed up.

Cardona again declined to provide a “yes or no” answer as Owens pressed him.

“Girls have now entered in contact sports of boxing and wrestling. Would you allow your daughter to physically fight and get beat up by a boy who called himself a girl?” Owens asked. “Yes or no.”

“Be happy to, once we finalize our regulations on Title IX athletics, to come back and have a conversation with you,” Cardona said.

Shortly after the new rules were announced, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Louisiana school board.

The Biden administration’s changes in the application of the 1972 federal law “will force schools to impose widespread harms on young people and deny free speech rights,” the legal group argues.

The lawsuit says:

The Biden administration’s redefinition of the word “sex” in Title IX forces schools across the country to embrace a controversial gender ideology that harms children—including the very children it claims to help. And it fundamentally undermines the statute Congress enacted fifty years ago.

Under the new criteria, male students who identify as females will be permitted access to girls’ private areas such as bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers, participate in girls’ physical education classes, and play on girls’ sports teams, despite contradictory information surrounding the athletic program impacts.

Several red states have also filed lawsuits against the White House’s Title IX changes. Oklahoma and Florida have both declared that they would refuse to comply with the Biden administration’s new rules. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a press conference the Sunshine State is “not going to let Joe Biden try to inject men into women’s activities” and that the state is “not going to let Joe Biden abuse his constitutional authority to try to impose these policies on us here in Florida.”