Breaking: Biden's Title IX trans student safeguards nixed

A federal judge has struck down the Biden administration’s regulation interpreting Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to ban discrimination against LGBTQ+ students, especially those who are transgender.

U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves of Kentucky ruled Thursday that the regulation is “fatally” flawed, the Associated Press reports.

Title IX bans sex discrimination in federally funded education programs. The U.S. Department of Education’s updated regulation, announced in April, extended Title IX protections to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity explicitly. At the time, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said this regulation aims to ensure that “no one should have to abandon their educational aspirations due to discrimination.” This includes safeguarding the rights of transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity and having their preferred pronouns respected.

Twenty-six Republican-dominated states had sued over the regulation, resulting in it being blocked in those states. Reeves's ruling came in a suit filed by Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The Biden administration had already withdrawn a separate proposed rule that would assure transgender students' right to compete on sports teams aligning with their gender identity.