In April, the United States Department of Education released its Final Rule of Title IX regulations.
The Final Rule is set to take effect on August 1st, 2024, but several states have filed lawsuits looking to challenge the new Title IX Final Rule.
Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. The law states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Overall, the amended Title IX regulations make several changes to how K-12 schools and their respective districts address reports of sex-based discrimination.
The final regulations reinforce that schools must not intimidate, threaten, coerce, or discriminate against someone in order to interfere with their Title IX rights or because they reported sex discrimination or participated in, or refused to participate in, the school’s Title IX process. Schools must protect students from peer retaliation after filing a Title IX complaint or reporting sex or gender-based discrimination.
The Final Rule formalized protections for LGBTQ+ students, employees, and parents.
The new Final Rule codifies prohibitions on the discrimination of LGBTQ+ individuals through its updated scope for gender identity. Title IX is expanded to formally include “gender identity” in the definition of “sex.” The United States Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County, 590 U.S. 644 (2020) that gender identity is included within the protections of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is the federal law that protects employees from discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sex. However, a number of courts have already applied the Bostock decision in the Title IX context prior to the final Rule’s implementation.
After it takes effect in August, Title IX will prohibit discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics in schools that receive federal funding.
Several states across the country have filed lawsuits as a challenge to the new Title IX Final Rule.
These lawsuits seek to halt the implementation of the amended federal school regulations. The central issue in dispute is the expansion of Title IX’s protection for LGBTQ+ students. Attorney generals in 26 states have challenged the regulations in seven different lawsuits.
After recent federal court decisions, the enforcement of new regulations are now temporarily blocked in 10 states, including Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Montana, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. However, this is not a nationwide injunction. It does not enjoin implementation for most states, including Pennsylvania.
For most of the United States, nothing has changed as of right now. The 2024 rules will move forward for August 1 implementation. In the states referenced earlier, the previous 2020 rule will stay in effect.
The new regulations to not impact LGBTQ+ student participation in sports.
While gender identity is considered a protected class under the final Rule, the Department of Education has not finalized any provisions that would apply to LGBTQ+ student participation in athletic programs. The Department of Education is in the process of revising a specific Rule that would prohibit a blanket ban on LGBTQ+ athletes from participating on teams aligned with their gender identity.
When Title IX takes effect in August 2024, no such Rule will impact K-12 athletic programs and participation because it is not included in the current Final Rule of the amended regulations.
