Institutions and groups in favor of LGBTQ+ favorable policies tend to justify their positions by saying they are promoting equality. However, a parents’ rights organization has recently flipped the script on them, pointing out that their positions ultimately end up discriminating against others based on biological sex.

Smith College, an all-women’s college, prides itself on kindness, generosity, ethnic diversity and … gender diversity. Yes, this college, which was created to be an institution specifically for women, prides itself on its gender diversity. Smith College admits biological men, who identify as women. On its website the school states: “People who identify as women — cis, trans and nonbinary women — are eligible to apply to Smith.”

If Smith is allowing biological men to enroll, it cannot claim to be a single-sex institution. Also, if a biological woman identifies as a man, she cannot enroll at Smith College. Thus, alongside not being a single-sex institution, Smith College is also discriminating against biological women.

However, in response to a question of whether Smith is still an all-women’s school, the institution responds, “In its mission and legal status, Smith is a women’s college. Smith is also a place where students are able to explore who they are in an open and respectful environment.”

Under the next question, “Does Smith have transgender students?” the school answers: “Absolutely. Smith has students, faculty and staff who are trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming.”

From the school’s policies and its Gender Identity and Expression statements, it is clear that while the campus will not accept biological women who identify as male, they will allow their female students to change their identity to male once admitted. Further, they will provide gender transition surgery and even “trans-affirming documentation” to affirm their students’ decisions.

An advocacy group, Parents Defending Education, caught these inconsistencies in the school’s identity as a single-sex institution. They recently filed a complaint against Smith College with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. They declared that this institution, which claims to be single sex, thus supposedly abiding by Title IX’s exemption for single-sex institutions, is discriminating against biological women.

“Ironically, in what appears to be yet another exercise in sex discrimination, Smith admits natal men who identify as women but does not admit natal women who identify as men,” they recognized.

Parents Defending Education further pointed out that Title IX specifically protects single-sex institutions. In violation of Title IX, Smith College has created all-gender bathrooms and locker rooms as well as allowed biological men into women’s spaces, all in the name of equity and diversity.

In the complaint filed with the Department of Education, Parents Defending Education laid out their case clearly. “The college’s Equal Education Opportunity Policy indicates that it will follow Title IX and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in its federally funded programs. The very same policy, however, indicates that Smith interprets Title IX to prohibit ‘gender identity’ discrimination, despite federal case law and this Department’s guidance to the contrary,” they continue. “Discrimination based on gender identity is not the same as discrimination based on sex under Title IX, as this Department well knows, and the Supreme Court has never held it is.” The organization’s statement continued, “In other words, to the extent Smith’s accommodations for so-called gender identity encroach upon sex-specific programs and spaces, it is in violation of Title IX.”

The namesake of Smith College, Sophia Smith, is quoted on the school’s website saying that she had the desire “to furnish for my own sex means and facilities for education equal to those which are afforded now in our colleges to young men.”

The college claims that it believes Smith would be proud of the way the school has upheld her dream. But they have changed Smith’s dream for women into a delusion of equity that ironically ends up discriminating against the very same sex she sought to give equal opportunity to.

Family Research Council’s director of Biblical Worldview, David Closson, weighed in on this issue for The Washington Stand. “From a biblical standpoint, the school’s claim misunderstands both the nature of true equality and the purpose of Title IX. God intentionally created humanity as male and female — two distinct and complementary sexes. Title IX was enacted to ensure equal educational opportunities for women, particularly by protecting spaces and resources that recognize real biological differences. Interpreting Title IX to require the inclusion of males who identify as female into all-girls schools undermines the very purpose of the law. It erases the distinction between male and female and places girls at a disadvantage, especially in intimate or competitive settings.”

Further, the school does not need to deny biological reality in the name of equality.

“The biblical view of equality is rooted in creation and redemption. All people, regardless of race, sex, or background, are equal in value because they are created by God and can be redeemed through Christ (Galatians 3:28). This kind of equality honors both our shared humanity and our God-given differences,” Closson reflected. “In contrast, the school’s ideology treats gender as a subjective, fluid concept detached from biology or divine design. This framework does not produce true equality. Rather, it creates confusion, undermines the rights and safety of girls, and pressures everyone to affirm ideas that contradict reality.”

Evelyn Elliott serves as an intern at Family Research Council.