A Kentucky-based U.S. district court blocked the Biden Administration’s gender-bending Title IX rewrite in six more states, adding to the coalition of support against the legislative change that was pending implementation in August.
United States District Court Chief Judge Danny C. Reeves’ ruling means that Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia joined the ranks of five other states where the measure has also been blocked.
“This case concerns an attempt by the executive branch to dramatically alter the purpose and meaning of Title IX through rulemaking,” the decision reads. “If the new rule is allowed to take effect on August 1, 2024, all plaintiffs will suffer immediate and irreparable harm.”
Judge Reeves determined that the Biden Department of Education (DOE) far exceeded the limits of its statutory authority in the rewrite, which expanded the law’s discrimination protections to include “gender identity.” The determination instigated a preliminary injunction, which halts the changes from occurring in the states included in the lawsuit.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a non-profit legal organization involved in the litigation of Biden Title IX cases, has aided in securing the second injunction against the rewrite.
“Our client, Adaleia Cross, has already suffered harassment by a male student in the locker room and on her sports team,” ADF posted on X. “No one else should have to go through that. The court’s decision upholds safety and privacy for students like Adaleia as the litigation continues.”
“The fight to protect our girls from Biden’s radical Title IX rewrite is just getting started,” said Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, in reaction to the ruling.
“Beginning in the mother’s womb, women are at a competitive physical disadvantage to men,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. “That’s why we have had women’s sports and men’s sports. And that’s why Congress passed Title IX to try to provide equality for both.”
The ruling comes after a U.S. district court in Texas also struck down the change, with District Judge Reed O’Connor finding that the administration tried to “functionally rewrite Title IX in a way that shockingly transforms American education and usurps a major question from Congress.”
The official announcement of the change came in mid-April when the DOE announced that it was expanding the original Title IX language. Along with the language change, Biden’s Title IX overhaul also grants biological men entrance to women’s locker rooms and sporting facilities, all in the name of alleged equality.
