Yesterday (12/20/24), Biden’s Department of Education withdrew a rule change to Title IX regarding allowing students to play school sports based on gender instead of sex.
The intent of the Athletics NPRM was to “propose a regulatory standard under Title IX that would govern a recipient’s adoption or application of sex-related criteria that would limit or deny a student’s eligibility to participate on a male or female athletic team consistent with their gender identity.” Id. The Department’s proposed rule provided that, if a recipient adopts or applies sex-related criteria that would limit or deny a student’s eligibility to participate on a male or female team consistent with their gender identity, such criteria must, for each sport, level of competition, and grade or educational level: (i) be substantially related to the achievement of an important educational objective, and (ii) minimize harms to students whose opportunity to participate on a male or female team consistent with their gender identity would be limited or denied. 88 FR22891
The US DOE has retracted the rule change.
The Department recognizes that there are multiple pending lawsuits related to the application of Title IX in the context of gender identity, including lawsuits related to Title IX’s application to athletic eligibility criteria in a variety of factual contexts. In light of the comments received and those various pending court cases, the Department has determined not to regulate on this issue at this time. Therefore, the Department hereby withdraws the Athletics NPRM and terminates this rulemaking proceeding. We do not intend for a final rule to be issued on this NPRM. If, in the future, we decide it is appropriate to issue regulations on this topic, we will do so via a new notice of proposed rulemaking, subject to the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 551, et seq.
The question everyone is asking is why and why now? I don’t have an answer. Whoever is Running the Biden Administration has been trying to Trump-proof the federal government. They are doing whatever they think they can to prevent him from putting it on the bureaucratic equivalent of Ozempic. I can’t yet see how this might fit into that scheme or if there is something else at work.
Dems don’t walk matters like this back unless they truly believe that this is such a bad issue for them politically that they need to start narrative-building now for 2026 and 2028.
Your thoughts are always welcome, and we’ll keep poking around for more answers, but for now, take the win, I guess.
