Victory for women, girls: federal court rejects Biden admin redefinition of ‘sex’ in Title IX across country

COVINGTON, Ky. – A federal district court in Kentucky issued a decision Thursday in State of Tennessee v. Cardona that blocks the Biden administration’s unlawful attempt to change the meaning of “sex” in Title IX—a federal law designed to create equal opportunities for women in education and athletics—to include “gender identity.” Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent a West Virginia high-school female athlete and Christian Educators Association International in the lawsuit alongside the state of Tennessee. The district court ruling applies nationwide and to every part of the Biden Title IX rule, meaning the rule is completely invalidated, and the U.S. Department of Education is unable to enforce it—anywhere.

“This is a colossal win for women and girls across the country,” said ADF CEO, President, and General Counsel Kristen Waggoner. “The Biden administration’s radical attempt to redefine sex not only tossed fairness, safety, and privacy for female students out the window, it also threatened free speech and parental rights. With this ruling, the federal court in Kentucky rejected the entire Biden rule and the administration’s illegal actions. We are thankful for the leadership of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and other state attorneys general who challenged this blatant overreach alongside our courageous clients. This ruling provides enormous relief for students across the country, including our client who has already suffered harassment by a male student in the locker room and on her sports team. The U.S. Supreme Court can further protect girls like our client by granting cases brought by the ACLU against West Virginia and Idaho laws that protect women’s sports.”

On April 29, the Biden administration announced it would redefine “sex” in Title IX rules to include “gender identity,” requiring schools to disregard longstanding sex-based protections that respect the biological differences between men and women. ADF attorneys joined several states, women’s groups, athletic associations, and school boards in achieving five injunctions that halt enforcement of the rule change in some jurisdictions as the lawsuits proceed. The district court ruling halts the Biden rule nationwide. Along with ADF, the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana, and West Virginia sued in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, which ruled the Biden administration rule change exceeded authority and was “arbitrary and capricious agency action.”

“[W]hen Title IX is viewed in its entirety, it is abundantly clear that discrimination on the basis of sex means discrimination on the basis of being a male or female,” the court wrote in its opinion. “As this Court and others have explained, expanding the meaning of ‘on the basis of sex’ to include ‘gender identity’ turns Title IX on its head.”

“Title IX,” the court continued, allows “males and females to be separated based on the enduring physical differences between the sexes.”

The athlete client that ADF represents is a 15-year-old girl in West Virginia who was forced to compete against a male athlete on her middle school track-and-field team. The male displaced her several times, even taking away her spot to compete in a conference championship. The male athlete was also given access to the girls’ locker room, and the ADF client had to endure vulgar, sexual comments that the athlete directed at her. The male athlete finished ahead of nearly 300 female competitors in three years of competition on the girls’ team. That same male athlete is the plaintiff in the West Virginia case, now pending at the Supreme Court, that resulted in a ruling undermining West Virginia’s law protecting women’s sports.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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