Federal judge blocks Biden’s Title IX rule

The USA has made another massive step forward in protecting women’s sport. President Biden had tried to impose a dangerous law that allowed males free reign in women’s sport.

A federal judge has blocked the Title IX rule, allowing sporting organisations and states to prohibit males in female sport, regardless of how they identify.

The ruling: Eastern District of Kentucky Court Chief Judge Danny Reeves in an order Thursday said the regulation on Title IX, the federal law that bars sex-based discrimination, is unlawful. He said the rule is “arbitrary and capricious” and violates the spending clause and the First Amendment, among other issues.

“This is a huge win for Tennessee, for common sense, and for women and girls across America,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement. “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 next week.”

Key context: The rule took effect in August after a lengthy rulemaking process that drew hundreds of thousands of public comments. The regulation drew praise from civil rights advocates and LGBTQ+ groups while prompting a strong rebuke from Republican lawmakers and conservative organizations.

The Biden administration has touted its regulation as the “most comprehensive coverage” students would receive in the nearly half-century of Title IX. It was also an overhaul of the first Trump administration’s rule that mandated how schools must respond to sexual misconduct.

Dozens of states sued against the rule. Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana, Tennessee and West Virginia argued in their lawsuit in April that the Biden administration rule would punish them for state laws that restrict transgender student participation in women’s sports, hinder the First Amendment rights of students and staff, and bar schools from enforcing their policies to “protect student privacy.”

The move has been celebrated across the US and the world, flagging the demise of males colonising women’s spaces and sports in the name of gender ideology. 

No one can change their sex. Women need sex-based legislative protections because some males have a history of oppressing or abusing female spaces, sports, and services. This is a very positive move ahead of Trump’s inauguration when it is hoped his administration will usher in further laws to protect and promote women.