A federal judge in Texas has expanded restrictions on the U.S. Department of Education, blocking any future action that includes sexual orientation or gender identity in Title IX anti-discrimination provisions.
Title IX is a 52-year-old federal law that protects students from sex and gender-based discrimination. On April 19, the U.S. Department of Education finalized an overhaul of the regulations. The new rules were set to take effect on Aug. 1 and apply to complaints that happened on or after this date.
The Biden administration’s updates redefine sex discrimination and sex-based harassment to include misconduct based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy, gender identity and sexual orientation.
Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas already blocked the updates in a case filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. In his June decision, O’Connor barred the Department of Education from issuing “any future agency guidance documents” that include sexual orientation or gender identity in sex-based discrimination protections.
O’Connor said the Biden administration went beyond its authority and did not follow the process’ notice and comment requirements. Texas schools “face an impossible choice” to either comply with Title IX and break state laws restricting transgender students’ rights or lose “substantial” federal funding, according to the judge.
Now, O’Connor has expanded the restriction to “any future agency action” that adds sexual orientation or gender identity to Title IX’s anti-discrimination provisions.
“This 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,” Paxton said in an Aug. 14 news release.
The Department of Education maintains that the Title IX revisions are within its authority and are protected by the Supremacy Clause — a constitutional article that generally gives federal law precedence over state law.
Gov. Greg Abbott previously instructed the Texas Education Agency, public universities and community colleges to ignore the updates, specifically citing his opposition to transgender protections. The Department of Education also disagrees with a conservative claim used by Abbott and Paxton that the updates harm female students.
“Recognizing these bases of sex discrimination under Title IX in no way lessens the force of Title IX’s protections against discrimination that limits educational opportunities for girls and women,” the updated rules read. “Further, discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is typically motivated by the same sex stereotypes that limit opportunities for women regardless of whether they identify as LGBTQI+.”
Multiple court rulings have blocked the Title IX updates in Texas, including in a suit brought by a North Texas school district represented by a designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group and another filed by two University of Texas at Austin professors who took issue with the increased protections for LGBTQ+ students and abortion patients.