OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A new Biden administration rule that seeks to withhold lunch money funds from public schools that refuse to accept or comply with new far-left mandates regarding sexuality and gender is likely to outrage parents anew.
As reported by The Center Square, failure to comply with the White House’s leftist school agenda could result in the loss of federal tax funds administered through the Department of Agriculture.
The controversy began after the USDA announced in May 2022 that “it would change its longstanding interpretation of Title IX, the law broadly governing discrimination protections in education,” the outlet reported. “USDA said it would expand its previous prohibition against discriminating based on sex ‘to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.'”
Funding for school lunches goes through the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service.
“As a result, state and local agencies, program operators and sponsors that receive funds from FNS must investigate allegations of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation,” the department said in a statement. “Those organizations must also update their non-discrimination policies and signage to include prohibitions against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.”
“This is a significant departure from what Title IX has always been interpreted to be,” Sarah Perry, an expert on the issue and an attorney with the Heritage Foundation, told the outlet.
As the range of orientations and gender identities continues to expand, schools, despite the political discord surrounding the issue, will now be compelled to navigate the complex and highly politicized landscape of gender and sexuality if the rule survives legal challenges that have already begun.
“This is no small change. This is a significant interpretation to say that sex equals sexual orientation and gender identity when Title IX, we know, dates back to 1972 and the women’s liberation movement, and at the time, there was an entire campaign by LGBTQ activists to be included in anti-discrimination law indicating that they themselves did not believe that they were protected in these particular contexts,” Perry told The Center Square.
The Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, tried and failed on a vote of 50-47 to overturn the rule under the Congressional Review Act. It’s likely that Biden wouldn’t have signed the reversal anyway.
“Don’t be fooled here, the Biden Administration is the only player in this policy fight that is taking away lunches from children,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said after the vote failed. “There is real-world evidence that USDA’s policy has already taken away school lunch funding from low-income children.
“Weaponizing school lunch money in pursuit of their radical agenda and putting students in the crosshairs is unconscionable, and we will not stand for it,” he noted further, per the outlet.
Meanwhile, the poll numbers for Biden continue to plummet.
In early November, New York Times/Siena College polls indicated that Trump was leading in four of the six swing states; however, additional signs of Biden’s electoral danger quickly surfaced. The president’s advantage over Trump in head-to-head matches is decreasing.
In all but two of the most recent polls conducted this month by 13 different pollsters, Biden’s standing is lower than it was in their earlier surveys.
Additionally, Trump has begun to gather momentum even though polls indicate that the majority of the movement is coming from voters who are switching from Biden to Trump, even though they may still remain undecided.
Now, more than at any other time in the previous year, Trump has a larger vote share, according to the average national poll.
The data at the state level is equally impressive. Apart from the polls conducted by the New York Times and Siena, over the past seven days, additional surveys have indicated that Trump is leading by 8 points in Arizona and 5 points in Michigan.
