Gender Identity

Carnegie Mellon University is committed to an environment in which all members can learn, work and fully participate in the life of the community. Consistent with the University Statement of Assurance, Carnegie Mellon does not discriminate in admission, employment or administration of its programs or activities on the basis of a variety of demographic characteristics including sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Federal Government Reaffirms that “Sex” Includes Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation under Title IX

Title IX is a U.S. civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education.  The Office for Institutional Equity and Title IX is responsible for coordinating the University’s effort’s to prevent and effectively respond to all forms of gender discrimination (including gender identity discrimination) and sexual misconduct impacting community members, including sexual assault, sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, dating and domestic violence, and stalking. 

Carnegie Mellon University has long prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity under the University’s Statement of Assurance.

In 2016, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education issued a joint significant legal guidance [PDF] explaining that Title IX’s prohibitions on discrimination on the basis of sex includes discrimination on the basis of gender identity.  This guidance was rescinded [PDF] by the Trump Administration in early 2017.  However, individual schools were permitted to continue to define sex to include sexual orientation and gender identity for the purposes of their own anti-discrimination policies, which Carnegie Mellon elected to do.

In June 2021, the U.S. Department of Education issued a Notice of Interpretation of Law [PDF] declaring, once again, that, under Federal law, the term “sex” includes sexual orientation and gender identity for the purposes of Title IX.  This interpretation follows the landmark 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that LGBTQ people are protected from employment discrimination under the civil rights law known as “Title VII” (which prohibits discrimination in employment based on identity including sex, race, religion and national origin), as well as President Biden’s January 2021 Executive Order extending the Bostock ruling to other federal laws and regulations.