The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), representing over 1500 traditional, Orthodox rabbis in matters of public policy, today expressed grave concern regarding President Joe Biden’s Executive Order that requires federally funded schools to allow biological male students who identify as female to use women’s bathrooms and compete on women’s sports teams.
Entitled “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation,” the Executive Order contends that “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.” The rabbinic group said that, to the contrary, children — and girls in particular — will now worry that they cannot privately and safely use their own bathrooms or locker rooms, and will be expected to undress in the presence of biological members of the opposite sex.
“It is a sad day indeed when the new administration, which entered office with the promise to unite, has commenced its activities by offending basic principles of privacy and decency, by endorsing the use of women’s changing rooms by biological males who claim to be females,” said Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, Chairman of the CJV Rabbinic Circle. “This Executive Order threatens the safety of all Americans, especially women and girls.”
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Biden’s order also effectively eliminates women-only sports teams, a key element of Title IX, the landmark federal law that guarantees equal opportunity for women. Women-only teams were created precisely because it is unreasonable — and unequal — to merely grant women access to men’s teams due to inherent biological differences. Women will now be denied both leadership and scholarship opportunities, and the CJV criticized the Administration’s attempt to discriminate against women while denying the realities of human physiology.
“‘Science’ that denies the reality that is in front of our eyes is not ‘science’ at all, but an agenda-driven effort masquerading behind an illogical pretense,” said Rabbi Ze’ev Smason, Midwestern Regional Vice President of the CJV. “For millions of women and girls across the country, this regressive order violates their basic right to equal access. Accommodating the needs of a small minority should never infringe on the rights, liberties and sensitivities of the vast majority.”
The CJV expressed its hope that President Biden would issue a new Executive Order rescinding this ill-advised change.