FRANKFORT, Kentucky (AP) — The Biden administration’s efforts to expand protections for LGBTQ+ students hit another obstacle Monday when a federal judge in Kentucky temporarily blocked the fresh Title IX rule in six other states.
U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves called the rule “arbitrary in every sense of the word” and issued a preliminary injunction blocking it in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. His ruling comes just days after another federal judge temporarily blocked the fresh rule in Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana.
Attorneys general in more than 20 Republican-led states have filed at least seven lawsuits challenging President Joe Biden’s fresh policy. Republicans argue the policy is a smokescreen to allow transgender girls to play on girls’ sports teams. The Biden administration said the rule does not apply to sports.
A request for a momentary restraining order filed by the Republican attorneys general of Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota is still under review. The Department of Education has asked a judge to deny the request.
The rule, which is set to take effect in August, extends Title IX civil rights protections to LGBTQ+ students, broadens the definition of sexual harassment in schools and colleges, and provides additional protections for victims. Title IX was passed in 1972 and prohibits sex-based discrimination in education.
Kentucky’s Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman welcomed the ruling on Monday, saying the rule would undermine equal opportunities for women.
“The judge’s order makes clear that the U.S. Department of Education’s attempt to redefine ‘sex’ to include ‘gender identity’ is unlawful and outside the agency’s regulatory authority,” Coleman said in a statement.
The Department of Education said it would “continue to fight for every student” while the ruling was reviewed.
“Title IX ensures that no one will be discriminated against on the basis of sex in a federally funded educational setting,” the agency said in a statement. “The Department has developed the final Title IX regulations following a rigorous process.”
In his ruling, Reeves noted that Title IX was intended to create a “level playing field” between men and women in education, but said the department was attempting to “derail deeply entrenched laws” with the fresh policy.
“In essence, the Department would be turning Title IX on its head by redefining ‘sex’ to include ‘gender identity,'” he said. “But ‘sex’ and ‘gender identity’ do not mean the same thing. The Department’s interpretation is contrary to the plain language of Title IX and therefore exceeds its authority to issue regulations under that law.”
If the regulation comes into force, at least students of both sexes would “experience violations of their physical privacy by students of the opposite sex,” the judge said.
The rule would require schools to “allow biological males to enter women’s intimate spaces and women to enter men’s intimate spaces within the educational setting, based solely on a person’s subjective gender identity,” he said. “This result is not only inconsistent with Title IX, but also with the broader guarantee of educational protections for all students.”
The fresh rule also has “serious implications for the First Amendment,” the judge said.
“The rule includes a new definition of sexual harassment that could require educators to use pronouns consistent with a student’s purported gender identity, rather than their biological sex,” Reeves wrote. “Because of the ‘widespread’ nature of pronoun use in everyday life, educators would likely be required to use students’ preferred pronouns, regardless of whether it conflicts with the educator’s religious or moral beliefs. A rule that enforces free speech and engages in such opinion discrimination is impermissible.”
The ruling by Reeves, who was appointed to the federal judgeship by Republican President George W. Bush, was the latest setback for the fresh protections, which had been praised by civil rights activists but faced fierce criticism from opponents who say they undermine the spirit of Title IX.
The decision was sharply criticized by the Fairness Campaign, a Kentucky-based LGBTQ+ advocacy group. Chris Hartman, its executive director, said the ruling “ignores fundamental truths about the transgender community and further puts transgender children, who are among our smallest and most vulnerable populations, in the crosshairs.”
David Walls, executive director of The Family Foundation, a conservative, “faith-based” political organization in Kentucky, praised the judge for temporarily halting the Biden administration’s “radical redefinition of ‘gender,’ which would destroy the opportunities women and girls have enjoyed under Title IX for 50 years.”
Several Republican states have laws that prohibit transgender girls from competing on girls’ sports teams. Those states argue that the fresh policy would open the door to allowing that. The Biden administration has proposed a separate rule that would prohibit such blanket bans, but said the newly passed rule does not apply to sports.
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Associated Press writer Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this report.
