Trump administration re-establishes Title IX’s no discrimination on basis of sex, ending Biden-era gender ideology 

After a nearly two-year battle, the Department of Education officially restored the original wording of Title IX to forbid discrimination based on sex – not gender identity, as redefined under the Biden administration – marking another victory in the fight to protect women and girls.

The Department, which oversees K-12 and college sports and academics, promised to protect women’s “rights, privacy and opportunities” in a statement Monday announcing the change, which the Trump administration had pursued since it took office.

“Girls who work hard to compete deserve a fair shot, privacy and basic dignity,” Rep. Mary Miller, R-Illinois, said in a post celebrating the announcement. “The Left worked to strip it all away, but those days are over. I’m grateful to President Trump and @EDSecMcMahon for standing up for female students and restoring Title IX protections as they were intended.”

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded program or activity, including sports and women’s access to private, single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms, according to the DOE’s release. 

But the Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) under the Biden administration changed the definition of sex to include gender identity and forced schools to allow men in women’s sports, facilities and bathrooms and to ask students for their preferred pronouns, according to the release.

Less than two weeks into his second term, President Trump announced the rule under Biden was invalid and that his administration would enforce the 2020 standards. Last month, federal courts dismissed all remaining challenges to the Biden-era rule, allowing the Department to officially restore “the commonsense language” of the first Trump administration, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.

“Thanks to today’s action, the published Title IX regulations faithfully reflect court orders and congressional intent – reducing confusion for parents, students and educational institutions,” she said. “We will continue to relentlessly champion equal opportunity for all Americans and hold accountable any school or college that violates the rights, privacy or athletic opportunities of our women and girls.”

The Biden regulation faced approximately 10 federal lawsuits and lost every time, Vice President of Defending Education Sarah Parshall Perry said in a statement provided to Heartlander News. Perry served as senior counsel in the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights when the 2020 rule was issued.

“These losses were unsurprising, considering one of the rule’s many flaws – aside from being a violation of the Spending Clause, First Amendment and Administrative Procedure Act – was an ultra vires definition of ‘sex’ to include gender identity,” she said. “No one in their right mind thinks that Title IX’s feminist champions meant ‘gender identity’ when they pushed for the law’s passage in 1972. We’re thrilled to see Title IX returned to its rightful, lawful, longstanding interpretation.”

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of women’s access to female sports and against schools across the country that have permitted trans-identifying, biological men to compete on women’s teams. West Virginia, a key plaintiff in the suit, defended female athletes who had been psychologically or physically harmed and intimidated by men on their athletic teams.

“Title IX is restored, and biological reality is BACK,” Sen. Jim Justice, R-West Virginia, and former governor of the state, said in a post on X. “As governor, I fought like crazy for our female athletes, and today that West Virginia fight is the law of the land. Thank you, @POTUS, for restoring sanity and protecting women athletes just like my own team.”