A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Biden administration’s Title IX rewrite that added sexual orientation and “gender identity” as protected classes under the civil rights law.
The rule change sought to revise sex-based discrimination, which critics argued would prevent federally funded schools from barring athletes who identify as transgender from participating in women’s sports. As President Joe Biden prepares to leave office, a U.S. district court in Kentucky has struck down the rule nationwide.
“When Title IX is viewed in its entirety, it is abundantly clear that discrimination on the basis of sex means discrimination on the basis of being a male or female,” chief judge Danny C. Reeves wrote. “As this Court and others have explained, expanding the meaning of ‘on the basis of sex’ to include ‘gender identity’ turns Title IX on its head.”
Enacted in 1972, Title IX originally intended to protect female and male students and employees equally and fairly from sex-based discrimination. Failure to comply would jeopardize federal funding for colleges and universities.
The new rule stated discrimination based on sex included gender identity, sexual orientation, and “pregnancy or related conditions.”
“While Title IX sought to level the playing field between men and women,” the judge added, “it is rife with exceptions that allow males and females to be separated based on the enduring physical differences between the sexes.”
The Biden administration issued the proposed Title IX rewrite last April without specifically mentioning transgender-identifying athletes, but Republican lawmakers and officials saw right through its intent. The rule would have taken effect on August 1, but its implementation was stayed by the Kentucky court last June.
More than two dozen Republican attorneys general, including those from Texas and Kansas, sued the Biden administration over the proposed rule, arguing it would conflict with their respective state laws that prohibit males athletes from competing in women’s sports. The litigation ultimately led to the court’s Thursday ruling.
Tennessee attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti celebrated his state’s definitive victory in the case against Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, who announced the amended regulation last spring.
“This is a huge win for Tennessee, for common sense, and for women and girls across America,” Skrmetti said in a statement. “The court’s ruling is yet another repudiation of the Biden administration’s relentless push to impose a radical gender ideology through unconstitutional and illegal rulemaking. Because the Biden rule is vacated altogether, President Trump will be free to take a fresh look at our Title IX regulations when he returns to office next week.”
Amid the pushback, the Department of Education withdrew the proposal last month after receiving more than 150,000 public comments. By that time, the case was already before the court.
The outgoing administration made the decision, knowing the Title IX expansion would never pass with President-elect Donald Trump in the White House. Trump has vowed to ban men from women’s sports.
Representative Tim Walberg (R., Mich.), who sits on the Education and Workforce Committee as chairman, hailed the court’s decision in halting the Biden administration’s attempt “to unilaterally rewrite the legal definition of womanhood to include biological males,” the congressman said. “I am proud to support Title IX and the women who fought to defend it.”
Alliance Defending Freedom also declared the court’s decision “a colossal win for women and girls across the country.”
The Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.
At least 25 states have passed laws restricting transgender-identifying athletes from participating in sports of the opposite sex in recent years.