[20181212]LSB10229_第九篇：谁决定了“性”的法律含义？.pdf

CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress LegalLegal SidebarSidebar Title IX: Who Determines the Legal Meaning of “Sex”? December 12, 2018 Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) generally prohibits discrimination “on the basis of sex” in educational programs or activities that receive federal funding. Whether the statutes protection extends to bar discrimination based on a persons gender identity (i.e., according to a persons internal sense of gender), however, is unsettled. Federal agencies have taken shifting positions on the question in recent administrations, and federal courts have reached divergent decisions on the matter. In addition, recent news reports have claimed that an internal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) memorandum, not publicly available, advocates for interpreting the term “sex” in Title IX to refer to a persons biological status at birth, but not a persons gender identity. Though not the primary agency responsible for enforcing Title IX, HHS administers the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which bars discrimination in health programs that receive federal funding on the grounds prohibited by