Title IX Suit in NY

Title IX is my pet law. Title IX is the ban on sex discrimination in education. It is most widely known for the impact it has had on providing girls and women with opportunities to play sports. This is huge for so many important reasons. There are simple reasons like equality and then the reasons related to the benefits it provides. Girls who play sports are more likely to leave abusive relationships, have sex later, less likely to get pregnant, decreases the risk of breast cancer, more likely to succeed in business. But even with all those benefits, that is not the part of Title IX that gets me totally excited.
The part of Title IX that gets me excited is the connection of sex discrimination to sexual harassment, banning gender stereotyping, etc. The spirit of Title IX could mean that teachers who suspect teen dating violence would be mandated to report that in the same way they are mandated to report suspicions of parental abuse. It would mean that when boys create lists of girls to sleep with and games about sleeping with girls, that schools would be expected to interrupt that behavior. That when anyone is bullied in a manner that is based on sex stereotyping or sexual behavior schools would be expected to stop the behavior and make sure everyone has a safe learning atmosphere.
There has been some debate about how same-sex sexual harassment should fall in Title IX and Title VII (the workplace version of Title IX). Some people want to create laws that outline specific protections for harassment based on sexual orientation. I think this is redundant. I think it misses the point that harassment based on gender identity or effeminate boys or butch girls is about sex. It's about our expectations of people to conform with a specific expression of gender. Boys are supposed to behave a certain way, as are girls. Part of the expectation includes expressions of masculinity and femininity. Part of the expectation is also the sexual availability of girls/women and for boys to want to be sexually prolific with girls. These expectations are burdensome for everyone, regardless of orientation. Focusing on sexual orientation or gender identity (meaning trans) ignores the broader implications and reduces the impact of fighting sex discrimination.
Okay more later. I'm distracted by the Rachel Maddow show and the discussion of Haiti and it's late so as much as I love Title IX and the fact the Justice Department is going to pursue a sexual harassment case based on sexual orientation, I'm going to have to comment more later.