Washington — The Biden administration’s Title IX rules expanding LGBTQ+ student protections have been overturned nationwide after a federal judge in Kentucky determined they exceeded the president’s authority.
U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves struck down the entire 1,500-page regulation on Thursday, ruling that it was “fatally” tainted by legal flaws. Following a wave of legal challenges from Republican states, the rule was already suspended in 26 states.
President-elect Donald Trump, whose inauguration is just days away, has previously promised to repeal the rules “on day one” and has made anti-transgender issues a focal point of his campaign.
The decision followed a lawsuit filed by Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti described it as a rejection of the Biden administration’s “relentless push to impose a radical gender ideology.”
“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,” the statement said.
The Education Department did not immediately respond to the decision.
Some civil rights organizations called the decision a step backward. GLAAD, a leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, reported that transgender and nonbinary students are among the most bullied and harassed.
“Protections for the most vulnerable students make the entire school safer and stronger for everyone,” stated Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD’s president and CEO.
The Biden administration sparked outrage when it finalized the new rules last year. The regulation expanded Title IX, a 1972 law that prohibits sex discrimination in education, to include discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. It also expanded the definition of harassment to cover a broader range of misconduct.
Civil rights advocates hailed it as a victory, claiming that it provided LGBTQ+ students with new legal protections against discrimination. Conservatives, however, were outraged, claiming that it could be used to protect transgender athletes in female sports.
The rule did not explicitly address athletics, but rather detailed how schools and colleges were expected to respond to cases of discrimination and sexual assault. A separate proposal dealing with transgender athletes in sports was put on hold and then rescinded after it became a focal point of Trump’s campaign.
Reeves concluded that the Education Department exceeded its authority by broadening the scope of Title IX.
There is nothing in the 1972 law that suggests it should cover any more than it has since Congress enacted it, Reeves stated. He dubbed it the “attempt to bypass the legislative process and completely transform Title IX.”
The judge also determined that it violated free speech rights by requiring teachers to use pronouns that correspond to a student’s gender identity.
“The First Amendment does not permit the government to chill speech or compel affirmance of a belief with which the speaker disagrees in this manner,” Reeves stated.
Rather than carve out specific aspects of the rule, Reeves decided it was best to repeal the entire regulation and return to a previous interpretation of Title IX. He predicted that his choice would “simply ’cause a return to the status quo’ that existed for more than 50 years prior to its effective date.”
Betsy DeVos, Trump’s former education secretary during his first term, was among the most vocal critics of the rule. On the social media platform X, she stated that the “radical, unfair, illegal, and absurd Biden Title IX re-write is GONE.”
Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, stated that Biden’s rule “betrayed the original intent of Title IX by removing longstanding protections that ensured fairness for women and girls.”
“With President Trump and a Republican majority in Congress, we will ensure women and girls have every opportunity to succeed on the field and in the classroom,” Cassidy said in an interview.
