A federal court on Tuesday handed Texas its first win in a lawsuit filed against the Biden administration over a mandate issued by two federal agencies before the administration amended Title IX to redefine biological sex to include "Sexual orientation" and "Gender identity." Title IX, which is part of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, 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." The law was enacted at a time when women and girls had limited athletic opportunities.
Under the Obama and Biden administrations, regulatory efforts sought to redefine sex to include "Sexual orientation" and "Gender identity" by providing an unfair advantage to biological boys and men wanting to compete in women's sports, a coalition of attorneys general have argued.
In 2022, they opposed a Biden administration plan to reimpose Obama-era changes to Title IX that the Trump administration ended.
On Tuesday, the first court ruling handed Texas a win, setting a precedent for rulings to come.
Judge Reed O'Connor, presiding over the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas Fort Worth Division, said the issue he was asked to rule on was "Whether the federal government may lawfully impose conditions on a state's educational institutions by purporting to interpret Title IX of the 1972 Educational Amendments as prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity." "The court concludes that Defendants cannot regulate state educational institutions in this way without violating federal law," he wrote in his 112-page ruling.
"Any Texas school refusing to follow the mandate risked losing federal education funding." The guidance, like the rule change, threatened to withhold federal education funding if states refuse to accept the administration's redefinition of sex and other stipulations.
O'Connor's ruling "Ensures that no school district in the State of Texas will have to comply with the Biden Administration's interpretation of Title IX as including gender-identity requirements, including allowing men into women's restrooms or locker rooms or sports teams, or requiring students or teachers to use pronouns based on gender identity rather than biological sex," Paxton said.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/texas/article_e36adb2c-283b-11ef-b0d3-a75b186adfc9.html
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