A Biden administration regulation extending federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ students was temporarily stopped by a federal judge on Monday.
The Education Department’s April modifications to Title IX, the federal civil rights law that forbids sex discrimination in schools and educational programs that receive government funding, in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, are no longer in effect as a result of U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves’ ruling.
Later this summer, the new rule—which for the first time addresses discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation—was supposed to go into force.
Former President George W. Bush appointee Reeves stated in his decision that the plaintiffs, which include a 15-year-old girl, an association of Christian educators, and six GOP-led states, will “suffer immediate and irreparable harm” if the regulation is let to go into force.
“As [the plaintiffs] correctly argue, the new rule contravenes the plain text of Title IX by redefining ‘sex’ to include gender identity, violates government employees’ First Amendment rights, and is the result of arbitrary and capricious rulemaking, Reeves stated.”
His decision came a few days after the states of Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Montana sued the Biden administration in April, and the judge there temporarily stopped the administration’s order from going into force in those states. There are currently active lawsuits opposing the rule in over a dozen more Republican-controlled states.
Despite being a federal statute, Title IX‘s requirements are enforced differently by each administration, and schools must abide by them in order to receive government funds.
With the exception of the states where they have been blocked, the Biden administration’s modifications to Title IX are scheduled to go into force nationally on August 1. Republicans in the House and Senate submitted disapproval resolutions this month with the goal of overturning the rule before it goes into effect.
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The Republican attorney general of Kentucky, Russell Coleman, praised the decision made on Monday and stated that the challenge to the new rule is a part of a bigger initiative “to protect our women and girls from harm.”
Coleman issued a statement saying, “We’re grateful for the court’s ruling, and we will continue to fight the Biden Administration’s attempts to rip away protections to advance its political agenda.”
The Biden administration’s Title IX reforms have mostly been met with resistance from Republicans, who claim that they jeopardize federal protections against discrimination against nontransgender students.
They contend that the new rule also misapplies to Title IX the logic of a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that shields workers from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
According to conservative leaders, the most recent revision to Title IX enforcement will permit transgender girls and women to participate on female school sports teams, nullifying legislation enacted in 24 states controlled by the Republican Party that forbids transgender student-athletes from playing in line with their gender identity.
Four of those statutes already have orders from federal courts preventing their enforcement.
However, a different rule pertaining to eligibility for athletics has not yet been finalized by the Education Department.
According to the plan, which was announced last year, schools are not allowed to implement policies that forbid transgender student-athletes from participating on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity.
Reports in June claimed that the athletics rule was being purposefully postponed due to the presidential election, but Education Secretary Miguel Cardona refuted them.
