Bridget Ziegler, a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, compelled the Florida school board where she serves to vote against new federal protections for LGBTQ+ students this week.
The Sarasota County School Board approved the resolution introduced by Ziegler by a 4–1 vote on Tuesday evening, risking the loss of millions in federal funds.
Last month, the Biden administration announced its long-awaited new Title IX rules that require anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ students. The new rules interpret Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in education, as a legal defense against anti-LGBTQ+ school policies, stating that it is impossible to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity without considering sex. This legal argument is based on the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock v. Clayton Coruling on job discrimination.
Under the new rules, schools receiving federal funding will no longer be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ+ students. This could impact states and school districts with policies to reveal LGBTQ+ students' identities to their parents or prevent transgender students from using restrooms that align with their gender. The new rules could also provide students facing discrimination with a legal remedy in federal courts.
Following the Biden administration’s April announcement, 14 states have filed lawsuits challenging the new rules.
Last week, Ziegler announced her plan to present a resolution to reject the new rules in a Facebook post. “Title IX was established to protect opportunities for women and girls. This includes giving girls a chance to excel at sports, use the restroom in safety, and change in the locker room in privacy,” she wrote. “Any weakening of the Title IX protections for women is a direct attack on our women and girls. A true War on Women.”
Sarasota County School Board member Tom Edwards was the only one to vote against Ziegler’s resolution, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports.
Edwards stated during the five-hour meeting on Tuesday, “I view this resolution as simply what Mrs. Ziegler said: ‘Game on.’ And that’s politics 100 percent of the time. So pass it if you will.”
As the Herald-Tribune reports that the district is at risk of losing about $50 million in annual federal funding by rejecting the new Title IX rules, which are allocated for free and reduced lunch programs and other services for schools serving low-income families.
Despite calls for her resignation due to inappropriate sexual behavior involving her husband, former Florida GOP chair Christian Ziegler, Ziegler has continued to serve her third term on the board. Last year, police initiated an investigation after a woman accused Christian Ziegler of rape. The alleged victim informed the police that she and the Zieglers had planned a sexual encounter for October 2, but when Bridget Ziegler was no longer available, the woman cancelled, stating, “I was mostly in for her.” The woman claimed that Christian Ziegler still went to her home and assaulted her sexually.
Christian Ziegler said the encounter was consensual, and in January, Sarasota Police chose not to charge him with sexual assault. During the investigation, Bridget Ziegler admitted to previously having a threesome with her husband and the person who claims to be the victim.
While Bridget Ziegler was not involved in the alleged sexual assault or in a separate charge of video voyeurism her husband faced, she has faced criticism for her sexual relationship with another woman while leading the anti-LGBTQ+ Moms for Liberty organization. In December, she was silently removed from the position of the director of the School Board Leadership Program at the Leadership Institute, a group that trains conservative activists. According to the Herald-Tribune, there are still demands for her to resign from the Sarasota County School Board.
