On the heels of the 2024 election and public outcry, the Biden administration has withdrawn a proposed change to Title IX. The change would have prohibited states from passing laws and policies to keep biological males from participating in women’s sports at schools receiving federal funds.

The change was first intended to be implemented in 2023, but was delayed due to political and public debate. It would have amended parts of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which helped protect women from discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities. The proposal suggested “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.”

The rule’s withdrawal document, published Dec. 26, was largely influenced by public comments to the agency after the release of the proposed rule in April 2023. The 30-day comment period received more than 150,000 comments.

Title IX already saw changes in 2021, when the Biden administration adopted a rewrite of the law in which the word sex was redefined to include “sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.” However, states pushed back, with 26 temporarily blocking the regulation and some schools in other states refusing to comply.

The withdrawal acknowledges the controversy regarding the 2021 change as well as the current proposed change, stating: “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.”

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing B.P.J. v. West Virginia State Board of Education and Hecox v. Little—two pending causes fighting for women’s fairness in sports—released a statement by ADF’s Senior Counsel and Vice President of Legal Strategy, Jonathan Scruggs, regarding the comments and the decision.

“As the withdrawal admitted, many Americans voiced their opposition to the rule change and there are many pending lawsuits related to protecting women’s sports,” Scruggs said in a press release. “…The decision to withdraw the proposed sports rule merely reflects the views of the vast majority of Americans who believe that women’s sports should remain reserved for female athletes.”

Scruggs also noted that defending women’s sports has not ended, with the 2021 Title IX rewrite still being fought against.

“The Biden administration has attempted to insert gender ideology into Title IX by its general Title IX rule adopted earlier this year,” Scruggs added. “The Biden administration has repeatedly told courts that Title IX alone requires schools to admit men into women’s sports, and activist groups across the country have filed numerous lawsuits to force females to compete against males.”

Photo: Alamy