Education watchdog files Title IX complaint over UW’s gender-inclusive policies

(The Center Square) – A national parental rights and education watchdog group has filed a federal civil rights complaint against the University of Washington for “forcing” women to use bathrooms with men.Defending Education sent the 11-page complaint to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights on Thursday. The central claim alleges the university is violating Title IX protections for women by refusing to give female students access to single-sex spaces, such as bathrooms and locker rooms.
The law prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs, including athletics.
Reagan Dugan, director of higher education initiatives at Defending Education, told The Center Square that UW’s push for gender-inclusive spaces comes at the expense of its female students’ civil rights.
“Title IX is clear,” Dugan told The Center Square on Friday. “It’s somewhat frustrating to us that a lot of the institutions that were very supportive of these policies 50 years ago have now kinda just thrown them out the window and decided we have preferred groups that we will violate your civil rights for.”
DOE issued a Title IX interpretation under the Biden Administration that treated discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as the same as sex-based discrimination.
However, a federal judge vacated the rule just before President Donald Trump started his second term in January 2025.​
The Trump administration has threatened to withhold funding from Washington state over its policies that require schools to allow males to compete against women in sports and use the same restrooms.
UW Executive Order No. 81 states that students and faculty “are welcome to use the restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms aligned with your gender or whichever choice you are most comfortable.”​
University Spokesperson Victor Balta told The Center Square that DOE hasn’t contacted UW yet.
“We have not heard from this organization or from the Department of Education about this alleged complaint,” Balta wrote in a statement to The Center Square on Friday.
“UW is committed to following federal law and will respond through appropriate channels if we are contacted by the DOE.”​
DOE’s Office for Civil Rights did not immediately respond to The Center Square’s request for comment.​
According to the OCR complaint and the university, every restroom in UW’s Health Sciences Education Building is designated as all-gender, meaning anyone can use them regardless of their sex and gender.
Defending Education alleges that UW is “forcing female students to share intimate spaces” with males as a result.
State law has prohibited discrimination based on gender identity since 2006 and has allowed biological males to compete against girls in athletic programs if that aligns with their gender identity since 2007.​
“My office will enforce our current laws as we are required to do until Congress changes the law and/or federal courts invalidate Washington state’s laws,” State Superintendent Chris Reykal wrote in response to a federal investigation last year.
“Unless, and until that happens, we will be following Washington state’s laws, not a president’s political leanings expressed through unlawful orders,” Reykal wrote in the response.
Dugan said he hopes this new complaint will prompt another investigation into UW and state policies.
“Local rules, whether they’re state or institution-based, don’t get to override federal law,” Dugan said.

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