Lift Our Voices Supports Department of Education’s Title IX Changes
September 12, 2022
U.S. Department of Education
Office for Civil Rights
Lyndon B. Johnson Department of Education Building
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202-1100
To Whom It May Concern:
As the founders of Lift Our Voices, a non-profit organization with the mission of ending discrimination, abuse, and harassment in the workplace for millions of Americans due to their gender, race, age, LGBTQ+ status, or other factors, we are writing to express our support for the Department of Education’s proposed changes to Title IX. These important updates to existing law will go a long way to protect students from various forms of discrimination.
Our organization seeks to free survivors of sexual assault and harassment at work from the silencing mechanisms of forced arbitration and nondisclosure agreements (NDAs). We were honored to be present when President Biden signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, which we championed, earlier this year. We are currently working with members of Congress to pass similar legislation to ban the use of pre-dispute NDAs. In this vein, we strongly urge the Department to ban NDAs as a prerequisite for investigation of Title IX complaints. Key to stemming the culture of abuse is allowing survivors the right to have their voices heard, and the ability tos peak openly, if they so choose, and thereby protect others from enduring abuse.
Importantly, the Department’s proposed changes to ban sex discrimination of all forms will improve the safety of LGBTQ+ students across the country, and will enshrine these protections in federal law. We also support the proposal to define sex-based harassment as including, but not limited to, sexual harassment. Returning to a broadened definition of sexual harassment as unwelcome sex-based conduct that creates a hostile environment and limits or denies the ability to participate in programs and activities at schools is also an important element of the Department’s proposed reforms.
Overall, allowing survivors to come forward in a safe atmosphere, protected from retribution or shame, will go a long way toward ending the cycle of abuse, assault, and harassment that is far too prevalent not only in corporate America, but on our nation’s campuses. We support these important protections for millions of students across the country.
Sincerely,
Gretchen Carlson, Co-Founder, Lift Our Voices
Julie Roginsky, Co-Founder, Lift Our Voices