by Daniel Stefanski | Jan 15, 2025 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona Republicans are applauding a recent court decision that helps to protect females.
Late last week, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky dealt a significant blow to a Final Rule from the Biden administration on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The court ruled that “the Final Rule and its corresponding regulations exceed the Department’s authority under Title IX, violate the Constitution, and are the result of arbitrary and capricious agency action.”
According to the press release issued by the Arizona Senate Republicans, this Biden administration rule “required schools to allow boys and men in girls’ and women’s private spaces like restrooms and locker rooms, on their female-only sports teams, and to disregard other sex-based protections created for the safety, security, and well-being of biological females within federal law.”
In a written statement, Senate President Warren Petersen said, “We are grateful for the conservative attorneys general nationwide who are working tirelessly to protect women and girls from bigger, stronger boys and men, while the radical Left continues to ignore not only science, but common sense. Women and girls are fighting an uphill battle as progressives try to undo the protections created for them, including Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act, which the Republican-led Arizona Legislature is currently litigating while Arizona’s own Attorney General refuses to do so.”
Senator Sine Kerr added, “This is a big victory for the women and girls who’ve had athletic and educational opportunities stripped from them at the hands of biological males posing as females, but there is still much more work to be done. While Governor Hobbs vetoed last year the Arizona Women’s Bill of Rights, Senate Republicans have vowed to continue to push legislation that safeguards women and girls on the playing field, in their bathrooms, their locker rooms, and anywhere else carved out specifically for them. Our daughters, granddaughters, nieces, and neighbors deserve to feel safe and supported, and it is our duty as elected officials to ensure their protection.”
After receiving the news of the court order, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, who led the coalition of attorneys general against the new rule on Title IX, said, “This is a huge win for Tennessee, for common sense, and for women and girls across America. The court’s ruling is yet another repudiation of the Biden administration’s relentless push to impose a radical gender ideology through unconstitutional and illegal rulemaking. Because the Biden rule is vacated altogether, President Trump will be free to take a fresh look at our Title IX regulations when he returns to office.”
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, one of the attorneys general in the coalition also weighed in, saying, “I’m proud to have successfully defended Title IX from the federal government’s power grab that threatened to upend half a century of landmark protections for women and punish States for following their own laws.”
Petersen continues to use his office as the leader of Senate Republicans to help stand in the gap for Arizona in major state and federal legal fights in the absence of Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes. He promises more intervention into legal matters in 2025 as legislative Republicans work toward protecting their state from government overreach and special interests that attempt to take Arizona in radical directions.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jul 6, 2024 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
A north central Phoenix legislative district may have a chance to replace its Democrat state senator in the upcoming November election.
State Senator Christine Marsh is running for reelection in Arizona Legislative District 4 this November. Based on her history of election finishes, Marsh may be in for another close contest in the swing district.
Marsh has served in the Arizona Legislature since January 2021. In the November 2020 General Election, she defeated Republican State Senator Kate Brophy McGee by fewer than 500 votes in Legislative District 28 (under the last redistricting lines). The previous election, McGee had bested Marsh by 267 votes in the 2018 General Election.
In the first election under the new redistricting lines for the decade, Marsh won another narrow victory over Nancy Barto by less than 1,200 votes for the right to represent the citizens of Legislative District 4.
The Democrat legislator has been a fierce opponent of her state’s efforts to increase school choice opportunities for Arizona families. In January 2017, Marsh co-authored an op-ed in the Arizona Republic, entitled “Expanding vouchers is dangerous for Arizona.” She wrote, “Those of us who care deeply about public education and the future of our state must work together to focus on what impacts 80 percent of students in our state – stopping the expansion of vouchers and School Tuition Organizations.”
On June 24, 2022, Marsh voted against the historic legislation to expand Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program, joining nine of her colleagues.
The following year, Marsh penned another op-ed for the Arizona Republic, stating that “Anti-public-school Republicans have chosen a path apt to cut safety and services, and sacrifice Arizona’s next generation’s chance to succeed. It’s time our state scrapped the universal private school voucher expansion before our public school system and, more importantly, your neighborhood public school is shuttered.”
Marsh has proven to be a reliable Democrat vote during her time in office, joining her caucus on a number of controversial issues that haven’t always reflected the sentiments of her district. Many of her votes throughout her tenure in the Arizona Legislature defy one of her posted priorities on her campaign website, which reads that “we need more balance at the Capitol in order to force negotiation and compromise.”
In 2022, Marsh cosponsored SB 1281, which would have repealed the preemption on cities from banning plastic bags. That same year, she voted against bills that would have prohibited minors from having irreversible sex change surgeries, banned taxpayer money from going to lobbyists, stopped government from forcing children to mask up without parental consent, and prohibited one single politician from unilaterally shutting down businesses in a self-declared state of emergency.
That same year, when Marsh voted against a proposal requiring accommodations for students who do not want to use a bathroom with a student of the opposite sex, she said that the schools can just get shower curtains.
Earlier this year, Marsh voted against a bill “requiring students in grades 7 to 12 to be taught about the Holocaust and other genocides” – even though fellow Democrat, Governor Katie Hobbs, signed the legislation into state law.
She joined Democrats in voting “NO on a bill requiring public schools to teach Arizona students about the victims of communism.”
Marsh also “voted NO on tougher punishments for public school and public library employees who expose our children to wildly disgusting pornographic books and images.”
She voted against a bill “prohibiting the court from ending probation early for criminals who are in our country illegally and are being deported.”
At the end of the 2024 legislative session, Marsh opposed legislation “classifying Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.”
In June, she also voted against a bill “allowing Arizona kids to have lemonade stands without a license and without having to pay taxes.”
In another major action for the just completed legislative session, Marsh voted no on HCR 2060, which referred several border-related policies to the ballot in November for Arizona voters to empower local law enforcement with more tools to protect communities from the historic effects of the border crisis.
Additionally, Marsh voted against “a child safety bill cracking down on companies that don’t perform reasonable age verification before allowing access to the websites they manage with content considered harmful for children.”
Senator Marsh has also been an advocate for legislation seeking to mitigate the liberty provided by the Second Amendment, boasting about Democrats’ efforts to pass universal background checks.”
On her website, Marsh lists several endorsements from interest groups, including left-leaning Arizona List, Moms Demand Action, and the Sierra Club.
Marsh is running unopposed for the Democrat nomination for state senator in the July primary election. Republicans Kenneth R. Bowers, Jr. and Carine Werner are vying for the Republican nomination to face the Democrat incumbent in the November General Election.
According to the Arizona Legislative District 4 Democrat Party, Republicans control 38% of the district’s voter registration, compared to 27% Democrats and 35% Other. In 2022, LD 4 had a higher voter turnout than both Maricopa County and the State of Arizona at 76%.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Apr 29, 2024 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) parents expressed their displeasure over plans to reduce the privacy in several high schools’ bathrooms during this week’s regular board meeting.
The district is planning to remodel one set of male and female restrooms at Cactus High School and Ironwood High School, with the main goals of providing clearer visibility into the restrooms and increasing ADA compliance.
In presenting the proposed plans, Acting Superintendent Kevin Molino explained that students felt uncomfortable with other students using the bathrooms as private hangout spots.
“As we gather feedback, we’ll find a balance between privacy and safety,” said Moleno.
In order to remedy this, the entrances to the new bathrooms would provide a direct line of sight into the main gathering space between the sinks on one wall and the private bathroom stalls on the other.
Corky Haynes, a community member, expressed concern that the students’ privacy wouldn’t be respected — especially the girls.
Teddy Todd, another community member, asked that there be more privacy given to the girls’ restrooms: a narrower entryway view, and a wider and taller divider for the sinks (for washing out garments). Todd also suggested adding doors to the urinals, and transforming the service closet into a private, lockable single-stall bathroom with a sink and the water tank closeted off.
Trina Berg, an Ironwood High School and Peoria Education Association (PEA) President, said that the increased visibility would make teachers’ jobs easier in managing students congregating in bathrooms. Currently, Berg says teachers either have to yell or go into the bathrooms to remove students.
“As a teacher, the restrooms are a big source of behavior issues, because our kids are congregating in there,” said Berg. “Yes, privacy is a thing, but the doors are there, they’re shut.”
Mikah Dyer, an Ironwood High School senior and PUSD board candidate, said that the proposed renovations would improve safety and usability.
“The number one problem I hear about bathrooms in Ironwood is the vaping that’s happening and the overcrowding that’s happening during passing periods during lunches,” said Dyer. “Teachers need accessibility and visibility.”
The proposed bathroom renovations include vape sensors in each stall.
Jeff Toby, a parent of three female PUSD students, said his daughters were uncomfortable with the proposal.
Tiffany Benson, a community member, expressed concern that the bathroom remodels were another step to ending gendered bathrooms. Benson also said that the schools needed to be more proactive in addressing the students who were repeat offenders for bad behaviors in the bathrooms.
Wendy Rose, mother of two current PUSD students, said that the female students she asked were uncomfortable with the lack of privacy in the bathrooms.
Christina, mother of two PUSD students, wondered at the lack of urinals and, like others, the lack of privacy presented by noise issues.
Board member Bill Sorensen said there needed to be a way of gathering more student feedback on the proposal before the district moves forward.
Board member Heather Rooks objected to the policy as another alleged step toward getting rid of gendered spaces.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Aug 18, 2023 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
Arizona Superintendent Tom Horne advised the K-12 community that Title IX doesn’t have any language forcing schools to obey gender ideology concerning policy on restroom, locker room, and shower facility usage.
The superintendent issued the remarks on Thursday in a brief guidance memo from the Arizona Department of Education (ADE). Horne explained that the current Title IX law only prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, not gender identity. The Biden administration proposed a rule change to Title IX in 2021 that would expand the longstanding 1972 definition to include gender identity and sexual orientation, followed by a formal proposal by the Education Department last year, but that rule change has not yet been put into effect.
“Under the current Title IX, there is no language that compels schools to permit biological boys to use girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms or shower areas,” stated Horne. “The Biden administration has proposed changes to Title IX that might allow for this, but this proposal has no force of law until it is ruled on by the courts, which has not occurred.”
The Biden administration announced it would publish the final Title IX rule in October.
ADE advised schools to not implement policy allowing gender identity to dictate restroom, locker room, or shower facility access, mainly referring to the ability for males to access traditionally female spaces. ADE warned that males could still be held accountable for impropriety, regardless of ideology.
“Biological boys who expose themselves to girls could be violating indecent exposure laws and subject to arrest,” said ADE. “Schools can provide separate facilities — even small ones that are open to either gender — that meet the needs of transgender students without compromising the dignity of others.”
Horne explained further that he’s received numerous complaints from parents about schools permitting biological males to use private facilities intended originally and exclusively for females. Upset parents have reportedly told Horne they may leave schools permissive of gender ideologies. Rather than dissuade this type of thinking, Horne encouraged parents to exercise their right of school choice, possible through the universalized Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program.
“[T]hey are considering removing their daughter from schools that allow this,” said Horne. “In Arizona, they certainly have multiple school options from which to choose.”
State Rep. Nancy Gutierrez (D-LD18), minority whip, said the guidance was “dangerous” and violates federal law.
In June, the Ninth District Circuit Court ruled that discrimination based on perceived sexual orientation qualifies as sex-based discrimination under Title IX.
Title IX affects more than just bathroom, locker room, and shower area usage. It also applies to sports, something which progressive activists are also fighting to reform. Two families sued the state over its law banning biological boys from competing in girls’ sports.
Horne took up the case.
Despite the legal battles over Title IX not yet settled, Arizona’s K-12 public school boards have been taking initiative by adopting policy that would align with the expanded Biden administration version of Title IX. Last September, for example, one of the state’s top charter school chains, Legacy Traditional Schools, permitted gender identity to dictate bathroom usage.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Tiffany Benson | Jul 8, 2023 | Opinion
By Tiffany Benson |
Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) Board President David Sandoval and Board Members Bill Sorensen and Melissa Ewing have effectively silenced all women and girls on school grounds.
Despite hearing concerns from countless community members, the trio remains calloused and uninterested in resolving the bathroom crisis. Discussions and actions taken during board meetings tell the story of an agenda-driven district that couldn’t care less about the well-being of its students.
On April 27, 2023, the pro-transgender board members rejected a bathroom policy proposed by Board Clerk Heather Rooks and Board Member Rebecca Hill. This is the same facility usage privacy policy Rooks advocated for at the April 13 board meeting. Essentially, the policy is intended to “ensure student safety and maintain school discipline” by providing administrative guidelines for accessing restrooms, locker rooms, and showers.
Of course, district leadership was always aware that a cross-dressing male student at Liberty High School regularly used girls’ bathrooms for social media photo-ops. By siding with the disturbed teenager, Sandoval, Sorensen, and Ewing lost all sense of moral decency and respect for half of PUSD’s student population.
No one knows exactly when the district started allowing biological males into female spaces. Formal communication was never provided to the public. Thus, parents were forced to wade through rumors and speculation while relying on reports from their children. It’s possible the district concealed this dangerous practice for nefarious purposes.
In December 2022, Executive Director of Education, Christina Lopezlira, received advice from the district’s attorney to inform administrators about “emerging practices for supporting transgender students.” If parents or students object to the new guidelines, Lopezlira wrote that PUSD must “amicably address the competing interests and rights.” By February 2023, Director of Information Systems, Jill Thompson, relayed that the Synergy upgrade included an option to record students’ preferred pronouns.
PUSD’s willingness to hide this information reveals a blatant disregard for the law and a particular disdain for familial bonds. There’s no length the administration won’t go to overthrow parental rights under Arizona’s Revised Statutes. It’s conceivable the district will soon pursue policy guidance on gender transitioning and clinical referrals without parental knowledge or consent.
Before casting her vote on April 27, Hill stated: “I understand we’ve had multiple instances at Liberty High School where a young man has been allowed to enter the girls’ bathrooms based on his claim that he identifies as a female. The fact that the district has allowed these actions to continue unabated—without establishing an accommodation or implementing appropriate consequences—is both irresponsible and unfathomable…”
Rooks followed suit stating that she had listened to multiple concerns from parents and students while district leaders remained silent on the issue. “It’s very disappointing that this has been going on [and] parents were not made aware of it. I think every parent in this district has a right to know what we are doing with their kids…and I think we need to move forward with this policy,” Rooks said.
Ewing justified her opposition, “If you look at our incident reports in [PUSD], and the narrative about assaults in the bathroom, it has not come as the result of a transgender-identified student. There is not a single incident that has happened. And if you look at the nationwide data, that does not show it as well. As board members, we need to be making sure that we are making data-driven decisions.”
It’s unclear whether Ewing was truly unaware or willfully ignorant of the landmark case in Loudoun County, Virginia. In 2021, a male student—who identified as gender fluid and frequently utilized girls’ facilities—sexually assaulted two female students. A grand jury later found district administrators “failed at every juncture” to properly report the violent crimes, and school board members were “deliberately deprived of information” until the second incident occurred.
Sandoval and Ewing maintained that their votes align with Title IX while Sorensen flat out refused to explain his position. During the June 22 board meeting, one parent’s criticisms finally compelled Sorensen to respond, “What I can tell you is that I was convinced that people don’t really want to listen…the end vote is ultimately what mattered.”
Although Sorenson agreed he could have been more transparent during the voting process, he figured that inclusive isn’t a “bad word” and the policy proposed by Rooks and Hill was “too restrictive.”
PUSD is increasingly becoming a dangerous place for children. If the administration can secretly change a student’s pronouns while advocating for shared private spaces, what’s next? Where are the boundaries?
How much control will the majority of the board take from parents and give to the public education system?
For nearly two decades, Tiffany Benson’s creative writing pursuits have surpassed all other interests. When she’s not investigating Kennedy Assassination conspiracy theories, she enjoys journaling and contributing to her blog Bigviewsmallwindow.com. Follow her on Twitter and Truth Social @WritingWoman84.