Judge Blocks Biden Administration’s Inclusion of ‘Gender Identity’ in Title IX Regulations
A third judge has temporarily halted the U.S. Department of Education from enforcing a regulation that would broadly prohibit discrimination based on a person’s self-asserted “gender identity.”
United States District Court Judge John W. Broomes issued a ruling that blocks enforcement of the regulation in every school and college in Kansas, Alaska, Utah, and Wyoming. The ruling also prevents the government from enforcing the regulation in every school and college that is attended by members of Female Athletes United and Young America’s Foundation, along with schools attended by children whose parents are members of Moms for Liberty — which are all listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The U.S. Department of Education had already been blocked from enforcing the regulation in 10 other states based on two separate rulings: Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Republican attorneys general in 12 other states have also filed lawsuits seeking to block the department from enforcing the rules in their states
The Biden administration regulation, which is set to go into effect on Aug. 1, would reinterpret Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination to include a new prohibition on discriminating against a person’s “gender identity.” The rule would prohibit education institutions that receive federal funds from enforcing any policy or practice that “prevents a person from participating in an education program or activity consistent with their gender identity,” even when the self-purported gender identity is different from the person’s biological sex.
Although the regulation itself does not specify how the rule would be enforced in practice, the attorneys general who sued the Department of Education have said the rules would force schools and colleges to allow biological men who identify as women to access sports competitions, locker rooms, bathrooms, and dormitories that are exclusive to women — even when states have enacted laws to prevent this.
“The Biden administration’s radical redefinition of sex won’t just rewire our educational system,” Rachel Rouleau, who serves as legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom — the group that is representing Female Athletes United — said in a statement.
“[The regulation] means girls will be forced to undress in locker rooms and share hotel rooms with boys on overnight school trips, teachers and students will have to refrain from speaking truthfully about biological sex, and girls will lose their right to fair competition in sports,” Rouleau said. “The court was right to halt the administration’s illegal efforts to rewrite Title IX while this critical lawsuit continues.”