This year, students across the country will return to their schools with new protections under Title IX because President Joe Biden worked alongside the Department of Education to write-in permanent legislation known as the “Final Title IX Regulations,” which are geared toward preventing discrimination and harassment in academia based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.
This standard will be enforced at K–12 schools in addition to colleges and universities, using 235,000 public comments that were taken into consideration when the department drafted Title IX’s new language.
Federally funded education programs can no longer legally minimize the experiences of LGBTQ+ students by ignoring acts of bullying, forcing them to learn separately, or treating them differently from other students. This ban will have a substantial impact on the day-to-day lives of transgender youth who are disproportionately targets for discrimination in educational settings.
“These final regulations build on the legacy of Title IX by clarifying that all our nation’s students can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona after the announcement in April.
The rule will go into effect on August 1, allowing students the freedom to have their chosen identity respected instead of subscribing to their gender given at birth, which was previously mandatory.
School staff will now be held accountable for “outing” students, and administrators who are reported for doing that may face discipline through a standardized procedural process for grievances. Adults can no longer use intimidation tactics, threats, or broader coercive efforts to interfere with scholars’ rights under Title IX. The department’s amendment will also ban institutions from forcing students to participate in sex-separate activities except in limited circumstances such as living facilities and athletic teams.
Despite the clear language, many conservative judges have pushed back on the issue, claiming the rule offers a loophole for transgender children to integrate team sports. U.S. District Judges Terry A. Doughty and Danny C. Reeves both used their power to temporarily block the expansion from taking place in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and West Virginia.
“The rule includes a new definition of sexual harassment which may require educators to use pronouns consistent with a student’s purported gender identity rather than their biological sex,” Reeves wrote. “Based on the ‘pervasive’ nature of pronoun usage in everyday life, educators likely would be required to use students’ preferred pronouns regardless of whether doing so conflicts with the educator’s religious or moral beliefs. A rule that compels speech and engages in such viewpoint discrimination is impermissible.”
Kentucky’s attorney general, Russell Coleman agreed, saying the expansion is “unlawful and beyond the agency’s regulatory authority” and would undermine equal opportunities for women.
Other entities have posed questions about how realistic it is to implement these policies just a few months before students return to campus.
“We appreciate areas of the rule that provide additional flexibility and clarity, allowing our campuses to better serve students,” said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education. “However, in several respects, the rule will expand already-complex regulations in ways that create significant new obligations for campuses, requiring an enormous amount of retraining for campus administrators and employees. That includes new and broadened reporting responsibilities touching virtually every employee on campus.”
The 2024–25 academic school year will ultimately prove whether these new protections can be successfully introduced in classrooms across the country. Lawmakers are awaiting positive results and stories about the learning enhancements from teachers, as well as families, throughout various states.
“These final regulations clarify Title IX’s requirement that schools promptly and effectively address all forms of sex discrimination,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon. “We look forward to working with schools, students, and families to prevent and eliminate sex discrimination.”