Trump Administration Restores Title IX Sanity

Score one for sanity. The Trump administration just formally rescinded President Biden’s 2024 regulations that sought to insert woke transgender ideology into Title IX and put women and girls at risk.

Title IX is meant to ban sex discrimination at any school that accepts federal funds, but the Biden administration tried to redefine “sex” to include “gender identity” as a protected category.

Federal courts immediately enjoined the rules then vacated them outright, holding that the redefinition was unlawful and undermined Title IX’s purpose of protecting biological females. Last month, the Trump administration formally removed the zombie Biden rules from the Federal Register, consistent with the president’s Executive Order 14201 safeguarding women’s sports and locker rooms.

Title IX has been a boon to women’s and girls’ athletics since its 1972 passage precisely because it recognizes biological sex as real and relevant. The reason is obvious. Male puberty produces large, irreversible advantages in strength, speed, power, and endurance.

Allowing a male to compete in female sports denies women equal athletic opportunities, which is exactly what Title IX was written to secure. A biologically advantaged male making the women’s team or placing in an event necessarily comes at the expense of a woman whose spot he took. The woman excluded from participation is denied the potential benefits of awards and future scholarships.

Transgender ideology also forces girls’ private spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms to be opened up to biological males. Girls being forced to potentially view male genitalia and be viewed in a state of undress by a male is sexual harassment. The harassment can be pervasive enough it leads to girls losing athletic or academic opportunities due to feeling unsafe on the playing field, locker room, or restroom.

Swimmer Riley Gaines’ experience competing against transgender Lia Thomas made this concrete. Thomas tied for fifth with Gaines in one race and took the NCAA Division I title in a separate event, bumping biological women from the All-American team. Gaines described the shock and discomfort of sharing a locker room with Thomas as a “violation.”

Even worse, some schools are illicitly doing this to their own students.

Last year, Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) filed federal Title IX complaints against six Ohio school districts based on undercover videos from Accuracy in Media. In each of those videos, school administrators assured the (fictional) parents of prospective students they had no problem hiding the biological sex of their sons who wanted to access girls’ facilities and compete in girls’ sports, sometimes coaching the parents on what to say or do.

One administrator said her school was “pretty accepting” and had a “weird kind of culture where it’s almost like a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’” Another official described her district’s practices as “go with the flow.”

Others mocked anyone who might complain as a “Karen,” and challenged those who might have questions, “I dare you to go down that road.”

A school’s job is to educate students, not to lie to them about biological reality or subordinate one group’s rights to another’s self-identification. And especially not to put unsuspecting girls at risk in a place they should be safe.

This, of course, is common sense. But sense doesn’t seem to be so common in education. PPT has also filed complaints against nearly a dozen universities, law schools and school districts for ongoing DEI practices in hiring and policies that are both discriminatory and beside the point of educating students. More such violations keep coming to light, making clear the extent of ideological capture in education. The Trump administration officially rescinding the Biden rules is a step toward sanity and sense, but there is much work to be done.