In April 2024, the Biden administration made headlines for officially adopting a set of reckless rule changes that redefined “sex” in Title IX to include “gender identity.” But the administration’s push to force radical gender ideology on schools across the country started long before that decision.
More than two years before these rule changes became official, Tennessee and 19 other states filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration after it issued guidance documents, previewing the later rule changes that turned Title IX on its head by redefining sex to include gender identity. Alliance Defending Freedom then intervened in the lawsuit to protect women’s privacy, safety, and fairness in sports.
The Biden administration was pushing gender ideology from the outset
On day one of his tenure in office, President Joe Biden instructed federal agencies to rewrite federal law to elevate gender identity over biology. The U.S. Department of Education followed these instructions and issued guidance documents that illegitimately reinterpreted Title IX.
Title IX was passed to eliminate obstacles many women faced in education, especially in higher education. The main provision of Title IX states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
But the guidance documents redefined “sex” in Title IX, cutting directly against the goal of helping women and girls. The guidance documents told schools to allow males who identify as female to use girls’ locker rooms and restrooms and compete on girls’ sports teams. It also informed schools that students must use inaccurate pronouns for those who identify as a gender different than their biological sex.
The Department of Education said it could launch an investigation into any school that declined to comply with this radical misinterpretation of Title IX. So, in August 2021, Tennessee and 19 other states filed a lawsuit challenging the department’s illegitimate guidance documents.
ADF intervened to protect women and girls
As a high-school athlete, Amelia Ford has dedicated much of her time and energy to compete at the highest level she can. She’s played multiple sports, including competing at the varsity level on her school’s basketball team. Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s guidance documents would force Amelia to play on an unlevel playing field by allowing male students to compete against girls.
Males have inherent physical differences that result in advantages over females in sports, and no amount of testosterone suppression can undo these advantages. Girls like Amelia deserve the chance to compete on a level playing field, which is why ADF attorneys intervened in this case on Amelia’s behalf.
ADF is also representing the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), whose schools have approximately 500,000 students throughout the country. ACSI schools compete against a variety of other schools, including public schools that are forced to adhere to the Biden administration’s new mandate. This places Christian schools and their female athletes at a disadvantage because the public schools they compete against in athletic events would be required to permit males to compete on female sports teams.
In July 2022, a federal district court issued an order temporarily blocking the Biden administration’s guidance documents in the 20 states that had filed that lawsuit. And in June 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld that decision.
The 6th Circuit’s ruling only deals with the administration’s Title IX guidance documents; it does not apply to the final rule changes adopted in April 2024. But it works together with the injunctions issued on the Final Rule to keep the government from relying on the guidance documents to enforce its radical rewrite of Title IX in the plaintiff states. ADF is currently litigating multiple cases across the country challenging the new Final Rule too.
State of Tennessee v. United States Department of Education
- August 2021: Tennessee and 19 other states filed a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s guidance documents that redefined “sex” in Title IX.
- July 2022: A federal district court ruled to temporarily block the guidance documents in the 20 states that filed the lawsuit.
- September 2022: The district court allowed ADF to intervene in the case on behalf of Amelia Ford and ACSI.
- June 2024: The 6th Circuit upheld the district court’s decision.
