AG Marshall, State Rep. DuBose decry Biden's changes to Title IX
BIRMINGHAM — Attorney General Steve Marshall joined State Rep. Susan DuBose (R-Hoover) and Matt Sharp with the Alliance Defending Freedom at a town hall in Birmingham to discuss legislative and judicial efforts to oppose the Biden administration's proposed changes to Title IX.
Monday's talk was the first of several scheduled events across the state hosted by Moms for Liberty-Alabama and LOCAL Alabama, two groups sounding the alarm about the new rule's adverse effects on women-only spaces.
In April, the U.S. Department of Education announced an update to the Title IX code, the sweeping name given to civil rights legislation prohibiting sex-based education discrimination. The changes, which are set to go into effect in August, add gender identity and sexual orientation to the list of federally protected groups.
Opponents say it would abolish the distinction between male and female sports and do away with female-only spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms. The rule would also add refusing to use a person's preferred name and pronouns to the definition of sex-based harassment.
Monday's town hall was held at the North Shelby Library, and roughly 100 people attended. While most seemed supportive of the speakers, some wore trans-supportive clothing and spent the evening making disruptive outbursts and offering unsolicited commentary.
First to the microphone was DuBose, who has made protecting women-only spaces a priority since being elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 2022. DuBose has already passed legislation in 2023 barring collegiate athletes from competing on sports teams for the opposite sex. This year, she nearly passed a bill to codify definitions of male and female in Alabama law, but it fell short due to gambling gridlock in the legislature. DuBose vowed to pursue the same legislation in the 2025 session and similar bills on the same subject during her talk.