The Biden administration’s Title IX amendments were reportedly overturned Thursday by a federal judge in Kentucky, who said that the new rules, which aimed to give LGBTQ students special treatment, were unconstitutional.
In April, the Education Department announced a final round of comprehensive changes to Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in government-funded schools and education programs.
One of the changes is expanding the definition of sex discrimination to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Biden administration was sued by more than a dozen Republican-led states over the amendments, claiming that they went against the original goal of the historic statute, which was to ensure equal opportunities for men and women.
In 26 states, federal courts had already blocked the rule’s implementation.
President-elect Trump and other right leaders asserted that the new rules would have let transgender student-athletes to play women’s sports.
A different proposal to address athletics eligibility was withdrawn by the Biden administration in December.
A lawsuit brought by Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia prompted Thursday’s ruling.
The new rule’s enlarged categories of sex discrimination and harassment, along with a clause permitting transgender students to use single-sex facilities that most closely match their gender identification, had drawn criticism from the GOP-led states.
On Thursday, Reeves, a Bush appointment, stated that he concurs with Republican attorneys general who contended that the Biden administration’s Title IX requirements are based on a misreading of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County.
In that instance, the court decided that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 shields workers against discrimination on the basis of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
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