A federal judge has invalidated the Biden administration’s regulation interpreting Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to explicitly ban discrimination against LGBTQ+ students, with a focus on transgender individuals.
U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves of Kentucky declared the regulation “fatally” flawed, according to the Associated Press.
Title IX, a law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded education programs, was updated by the U.S. Department of Education in April to include explicit protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. At the time, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona stated that the regulation was designed to ensure that “no one should have to abandon their educational aspirations due to discrimination.” The protections covered transgender students’ rights to use facilities corresponding with their gender identity and to have their preferred pronouns respected.
The rule was challenged by 26 Republican-led states, leading to its suspension in those states. Reeves’s ruling specifically addressed a lawsuit filed by six states: Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Additionally, the Biden administration had previously withdrawn a separate proposed rule aimed at protecting transgender students’ rights to compete on sports teams that match their gender identity.
