OSC's June 9 letter to the White House said the Department of Education ultimately "fully substantiated" a whistleblower’s allegations that the department’s Office for Civil Rights failed to comply with a federal injunction barring implementation of Biden-era guidance that interpreted Title IX to cover sexual orientation and gender identity.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMThe whistleblower, a chief attorney in OCR’s Kansas City office, alleged that the department continued pursuing gender identity, transgender status and sexual orientation claims under Title IX in states covered by the injunction.The OSC report said that by Sept.26, 2022, former ED Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon laid out a way for OCR to keep handling SOGI cases in the states covered by the court order.In that email, Lhamon told staff that the court had blocked the department from "implementing" documents addressing sexual orientation and gender identity in the 20 plaintiff states.
But she also told them that "OCR will continue to carry out its statutorily required responsibilities," and said staff should not rely on the three blocked documents when deciding what Title IX means.Investigators later concluded that this approach was not real compliance with the injunction.The report said OCR leadership had created "a path for carrying out its preferred SOGI policies" in the plaintiff states despite the court order.
The report also said OCR regional offices were then directed to act "in defiance" of the injunction.Fox News Digital has reached out to Lhamon for comment.The court order stemmed from a lawsuit brought by a coalition of states challenging three June 2021 guidance documents issued after Biden signed Executive Order 13988, "Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation."In July 2022, the U.S.District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee issued a preliminary injunction blocking the departmen...