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During a panel discussion examining Title IX, the federal law which advanced equality for women in education and athletics, the conversation came full circle as the panelists noted the landmark legislation was born in turbulent times and 50 years later it is providing an anchor in turbulent times.
“Title IX is wonderful. Title IX is an amazing piece of legislation that did all of the wonder things and does all of the wonderful things that we have already discussed,” Stevie Pactor, staff attorney at the ACLU of Indiana, said at the end of the discussion. “And one of the pieces of the future of Title IX is how is it going to apply to our friends and neighbors and colleagues who are transgender, who are gay and lesbian or who are gender nonconforming?”
The panel discussion, “Title IX: Past, Present, Future,” was held Thursday at the Indiana Southern District Court and was the lead event in the 15th Annual Court History Symposium.
Kelleigh Irwin Fagan, partner at Church Church Hittle & Antrim, moderated the discussion. Along with Pactor, the other panelists were former Sen. Evan Bayh; Julie Roe Lach, commissioner of the Horizon League; and Brooke Barnett, Butler University provost.
Bayh began the event with a history lesson Title IX, explaining how his father, the late Sen. Birch Bayh, came to help develop and push the law through the U.S. Senate.
The elder Bayh arrived in Washington, D.C., as a newly-elected senator in January 1963. Across the country, the status quo was being challenged and the Vietnam War was raging. Racial equality and justice equality drew the nation’s attention but soon the focus also turned to women and the “incredible injustice at that time.”
Women were few in the legal and medical professions and largely non-existent in the corporate board rooms, Evan Bayh noted. And in the sports arena, the money and spotlight was disproportionately showered on men’s athletics.
“My father came to the Senate in the midst of all of this and it was sort of a man meets the moment where these was this change take place, status quo was being questioned and here was a man who was willing to take big steps,” Bayh said.
Apart from larger society, the elder Bayh saw the disadvantage that women faced in his home. His wife, Marvella, was a smart, talented woman who had great potential but was held back because of attitudes toward females.
Bayh said championing Title IX and seeing its impact gave his father more satisfaction than anything else. The younger Bayh also applauded the women who have taken the opportunities provided by the law and fulfilled their dreams.
“It’s not about the office holders, it’s about all of you,” Bayh said. “The role that Title IX has played in enriching so many of your lives really would make him feel his own life was worthwhile.”
Pactor highlighted how Title IX had established rights for LGBTQ students, but vigilance is still needed. She pointed to the 7th Circuit’s 2017 ruling in Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School District which held prohibiting a transgender boy from using the boys’ restroom violated Title IX’s protections against gender discrimination.
Even though Whitaker is precedent in the 7th Circuit, the ACLU of Indiana has lawsuits pending against two Indiana school district that are denying children the right to use the gender-specific restroom that is appropriate for them.
Moreover, the ACLU successfully obtained a preliminary injunction to block Indiana’s law prohibiting transgender girls from playing sports. That case is now on appeal to the 7th Circuit.
Pactor noted precedent might not protect these cases but she still has faith in Title IX.
“From my perspective,” Pactor said, “I see Title IX, the goals that it has, the way that it operates to even the playing field, to create equitable opportunities for everyone are so strongly true for transgender kids.”
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