In a stunning victory for sanity and women’s sports, the Biden administration has officially withdrawn a controversial proposed rule that would have barred schools from prohibiting male athletes from competing on girls’ teams. The decision, revealed in the Federal Register, cited overwhelming public opposition and ongoing legal challenges as primary reasons for abandoning the plan.
The proposed rule, first introduced in April 2023, aimed at expanding Title IX protections to include “gender identity,” effectively reinstating changes that Barack Obama implemented during his final year in office. Under Obama’s directive, public schools were required to recognize a student’s self-identified gender identity as their sex under Title IX, granting access to facilities and sports teams based on that identity. Schools that refused risked losing federal funding.
Donald Trump reversed Obama’s policy during his presidency, calling it unconstitutional. However, Biden reinstated the Obama-era standard, erasing the distinction of biological sex in favor of “gender identity.” This change not only granted biological males access to scholarships reserved for women but also permitted them to use women’s locker rooms, private facilities, and even single-sex housing — undermining the protections Title IX was designed to provide for women and girls.
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However, Americans met the Biden administration’s changes with fierce resistance, reflected in the over 150,000 public comments submitted during the feedback period — many of which voiced opposition.
”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," the Education Department said in a statement. "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."
🚨🚨🚨 Women's sports are being saved.
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) December 20, 2024
The Biden administration is withdrawing its Title IX proposal which forced schools to allow trans-identifying male athletes into girls' sports.
They know they've lost.
Common sense is emerging.
Your courage is making the difference.… pic.twitter.com/r4PQhS1tus
Despite this victory, now is not the time for complacency. We must stay vigilant against the transgender movement, which seeks to upend common sense and decency in its quest to redefine sex and gender according to a radical left-wing ideology that defies logic and reality.
In fact, according to Jennifer Sey, this is "not a full victory."
"The other changes to Title IX that require schools to treat “trans”identifying students as their self proclaimed “gender” are still in place," she explained in a post on X. "Women’s only spaces are not protected. And certainly, the 24 states that have already implemented the change to allow males in women's sports will continue to do so. The war on truth will continue."
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