On Monday, a federal judge in Kentucky halted the Biden administration’s new anti-discrimination protections for LGBT students in six Republican-led states. This decision by U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves, based in Lexington, prevents the Department of Education from enforcing the rule set to take effect on August 1. These protections, introduced in April, aimed to extend Title IX’s sex-based discrimination safeguards to include gender identity.
This ruling now makes ten states where judges have impeded the implementation of this rule. The states involved in this latest block are Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, and West Virginia. Republican attorneys general from these states, along with a Christian educators’ group, filed the lawsuit arguing that the rule overstepped Title IX’s original intent.
Judge Reeves, appointed by former President George W. Bush, sided with the plaintiffs, stating that redefining “sex” to include “gender identity” under Title IX distorts the law’s original purpose of ensuring educational equity between men and women. He also noted that enforcing this rule could infringe on educators’ First Amendment rights by compelling them to use pronouns that align with students’ gender identities rather than their biological sex.
This decision follows a similar ruling from a federal judge in Louisiana last week, affecting Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho. Additional lawsuits challenging the rule are still pending in 16 other states.
Republican attorneys general have praised the rulings, expressing concerns that the rule would mandate allowing transgender students born male to access women’s restrooms and locker rooms in schools.
Despite these setbacks, the Education Department remains firm on the rule, asserting that it aligns with Title IX’s statutory promises. The department’s stance is bolstered by a 2020 Supreme Court decision which interpreted sex discrimination bans in Title VII to cover gay and transgender employees, a precedent often applied to Title IX cases.
The Education Department’s guidance, prior to the rule’s official adoption, had already aimed to extend similar protections to LGBT students. However, enforcement has been blocked in 20 states by a federal appeals court.
