A group of 14 transgender and nonbinary state legislators Monday sent a letter to the Biden administration, criticizing Title IX policy changes the Department of Education (DOE) proposed last week. The new DOE changes regard the eligibility of transgender athletes on school sports teams.

In the letter, the representatives from ten state legislatures said that the proposed changes to Title IX would “provide those who seek to deny us our rights a roadmap for how to do so.” The legislators said that the proposed “compromise” limits transgender athletes’–and in a broader sense–transgender Americans’ access to equal rights. The legislators then said, “Trans athletes belong in sports. Full stop.”

The policy changes establish that policies would violate Title IX when they “categorically ban transgender students from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity just because of who they are.” However, the policy changes still allows schools, particularly high schools and colleges, to adopt policies that limit transgender student participation to maintain “competitive high school and college athletic environments.”

Legislators in the letter said the proposed changes granted “credence to false narratives around the supposed advantages of trans athletes.” Rather than perpetuating these, the legislators urged policymakers to “instead [ask] why trans people are so deeply underrepresented – in their participation, in their successes, and in athletic scholarships.”