June 23 Birthday
Title IX was signed into law on June 23, 1972. The text was simple: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." It was thirty-seven words that transformed American education and athletics. Before Title IX, one in twenty-seven girls played high school sports. Today, one in three do. The law also addressed sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, and admissions. Its impact on women's sports was unintended — the original bill did not mention athletics — but it is the change most people associate with Title IX. Alan Turing, born this day in 1912, broke the German Enigma code during World War II at Bletchley Park. His work shortened the war by an estimated two years and saved fourteen million lives. After the war, he designed one of the first computers. In 1952, he was convicted of "gross indecency" for homosexuality and sentenced to chemical castration. He ate an apple laced with cyanide in 1954. He was forty-one. The Apple logo is sometimes said to be a tribute to Turing, though Steve Jobs denied it. Turing received a posthumous royal pardon in 2013. People born on June 23 fall under the zodiac sign of Cancer. The birthstone is Pearl and the birth flower is Rose. Historical events on June 23 include 1972: Title IX signed by Nixon, banning sex discrimination in federally funded education, 1868: Christopher Latham Sholes patents the typewriter, 1931: Wiley Post and Harold Gatty begin first round-the-world flight. Famous people born on June 23 include Alan Turing (1912), Clarence Thomas (1948), Joss Whedon (1964).