President Joe Biden's Education Secretary Miguel Cardona refused to respond to Republican Representative Mary Miller of Illinois when she asked "how many genders there are" during a House Education and Labor Committee hearing on the priorities of the Department of Education this week. Sec. Cardona was put on the spot over an educational material provided to students and their families titled "Confronting Anti-LGBTQI+ Harassment in Schools."
"Before we start penalizing teachers for stating a genetic and biological fact about genders, can you please clarify for the committee how many genders there are?" Rep. Miller asked Sec. Cardona, as reported by FOX News. But instead of providing a simple answer to the question, President Biden's Education Secretary tried to address what he called "the root" of the question by pushing for protections for LGBTQI+ in schools.
"I feel very strongly, that as educators, it's our responsibility to protect all students," Sec. Cardona replied.
Rep. Miller again asked, "How many genders are there?" to which the Education Secretary refused to answer, causing the Republican congresswoman to say, "That is an example under your leadership that you are putting out to people."
Rep. Miller asked once more but the Education Secretary deflected, asking her instead how she would "respond to a student who is nonbinary in your classroom."
Rep. Miller pressed on to ask how many genders there are, until the Education Secretary declared, "I won't be answering your question."
The heated exchange between Sec. Cardona and the Republican congresswoman from Illinois come at the heels of the Department of Education pushing for protections for LGBTQI+ in schools. According to USA Today, the Biden administration last week announced that "rights of transgender and gay students are protected at school by Title IX," a reversal of a Republican-authored guidance that allegedly prevented their rights to be protected by such federal laws.
"The Department makes clear that all students - including LGBTQ+ students -deserve the opportunity to learn and thrive in schools that are free from discrimination," Sec. Cardona said in a statement last week. "The Supreme Court has upheld the right for LGBTQ+ people to live and work without fear of harassment, exclusion, and discrimination - and our LGBTQ+ students have the same rights and deserve the same protections."
The announcement of protections for LGBTQI+ in schools is a reversal of a Trump-era guidance, which was praised by LGBT groups across the country, especially when it was announced on "Pride Month." The news came a year after the Supreme Court ruled that gay and transgender workers are protected by the Civil Rights Act, which criminalizes discrimination in the workplace.
Sometimes, however, pushing for LGBT rights mean putting other rights in danger. Female athletes, for example, are now being forced to compete against biological males who identify as female and undergo transgender surgery to "affirm" their gender.
In response to this, a number of bills, including 69 measures aimed at banning transgender athletes from participating in women's sports, are being pushing across the nation. Republican legislators who pen such bills do so in defense of female athletes who lose major opportunities due to the biological physical advantages of males in sports.
