Six states halt Biden administration’s Title IX rewrite after West Virginia athlete’s lawsuit
A U.S. District Court in Kentucky on Monday ordered a halt to implementation of the Biden administration’s new Title IX protections after a West Virginia girl and an International Association of Christian Educators sued after a transgender teen competed on a high school team.
The new court order applies to Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia.
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An athlete prepares to compete in the men’s 4×100 meter relay during the Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 7, 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Photos by C. Morgan Engel/NCAA via Getty Images)
“However, despite society’s long-standing recognition of biological differences between the sexes, as well as the individual’s basic right to bodily privacy, the Final Rule requires that schools allow biological males into the intimate spaces of women, and women in men, within the educational environment based entirely on a person’s subjective gender identity,” the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky said in its ruling.
“This result is not only impossible to square with Title IX but with the broader guarantee of educational protection for all students.”
A federal judge blocked Biden’s Title IX rule in Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho last week.
Tennessee v. Cardona focuses on the case of BPJ, Becky Pepper-Jackson, a track athlete in West Virginia whose representatives repealed the Saves Women’s Sports Act in the state in April.
FLASHBACK: WEST VIRGINIA TRANSGENDER SPORTS BAN OVERLOOKED IN FEDERAL COURT OF APPEALS
President Biden’s Title IX rewrite paused in a few more states on Monday. (Alexander Pohl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Pepper-Jackson at the time was the only transgender girl identified by advocates and opposition as wanting to play on a women’s team in West Virginia. Pepper-Jackson has been competing with and against girls since she entered high school and has been taking puberty blockers since she was 13.
In April, five West Virginia high school athletes refused to compete against Pepper-Jackson in an event.
Alliance Defending Freedom, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the International Association of Christian Educators and the aggrieved 15-year-old girl, wrote in its lawsuit that 300 athletes had been displaced in three years in the discus and shot put.
Riley Gaines, an OutKick contributor, host of the “Gaines for Girls” podcast and director of the Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute, issued a statement about the ruling.
“This is a big win,” Gaines said. “I don’t think we would have seen this kind of decisive action two years ago. The house of cards of gender ideology is crumbling. And it’s crumbling fast.
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“I hope that every generation after mine has the same opportunity to compete and succeed that I was fortunate to have for most of my athletic career. But if it’s up to Biden and progressive Democrats, they won’t do it.”
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