A Texas federal judge this month ruled that the Biden administration had acted unlawfully in interpreting Title IX to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ students. The ruling preempts any future action by the Education Department to prohibit discrimination in educational settings on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Judge Reed O鈥機onnor鈥檚 broadened in June that struck down specific Biden administration rules intended to expand protections to LGBTQ students.
O鈥機onnor, a President George W. Bush appointee, said the Biden administration overstepped its authority and that any new guidelines that expanded anti-discrimination protections to LGBTQ students would be illegal.
鈥淭o allow Defendants鈥� unlawful action to stand would be to functionally rewrite Title IX in a way that shockingly transforms American education and usurps a major question from Congress,鈥� O鈥機onnor wrote in his Aug. 5 opinion.
鈥淭hat is not how our democratic system functions,鈥� he wrote, adding that, 鈥渢he Department lacks authority to redefine sex in a way that conflicts with Title IX.鈥�
The statute at the center of the lawsuit 鈥� and the clash it reflects between Texas legislation and federal anti-discrimination protections 鈥� is Title IX, a 1972 law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs and activities.
In 2021, the Biden administration said that Title IX protects LGBTQ students after the Supreme Court that Title VII of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars employment discrimination on the basis of sex, applies to gay and transgender workers as well.
That same year, the Texas Legislature passed a law that bans transgender children in K-12 public schools from playing on sports teams that are aligned with their gender.
The Texas Attorney General鈥檚 office in 2023 for its interpretation of Title IX, arguing that noncompliance with the Biden administration鈥檚 rules put Texas schools at risk of losing federal funding.
The Aug. 5 decision came after Texas asked the federal court to clarify the scope of its June ruling and to preclude any implementation of Title IX that extended protections to LGBTQ students.
鈥淭his is a major win for protecting Texas and its students from any future attempt by the federal government to impose its unlawful interpretation of Title IX that puts women and girls at risk,鈥� Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton posted on social media. 鈥淭he Biden Administration has waged war on women鈥檚 rights by subverting the Title IX protections they are entitled to in school and in sports.鈥�
The Biden administration issued revised Title IX rules in April that cemented federal protections for LGBTQ students and reversed a number of Trump-era policies that determined how schools should respond to cases of alleged sexual misconduct. Those rules have been in 26 states, including Texas, due to ongoing litigation.