Another federal judge blocks Biden on Title IX, stating, ‘There are two sexes: male and female’

Title IX rewrite to protect men who want to be in women’s sports and locker rooms won’t go into effect in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, or Indiana any time soon, as yet another judge has blocked the Biden Administration with a temporary injunction.

The block on Biden happened Monday, three days after another federal judge blocked the rewrite in Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho.

Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court of Eastern Kentucky said the Biden interpretation of Title IX to include transgenders is “arbitrary in the truest sense of the word.”

“There are two sexes: male and female. More than fifty years ago, Congress recognized that girls and women were not receiving educational opportunities that were equal to those afforded to their male counterparts. It attempted to remedy this historical inequity through the passage of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, commonly known as Title IX. And for more than fifty years, educational institutions across the country risk losing federal funding if they fail to comply with the dictates of the statute. This case concerns an attempt by the executive branch to dramatically alter the purpose and meaning of Title IX through rulemaking,” Reeves wrote in his order.

In his footnote, Reeves noted that the federal government made the concession that there are two sexes during oral arguments on the plaintiffs’ motion for injunctive relief. “The parties have agreed to little else,” he added.

“If the new rule is allowed to take effect on August 1, 2024, all plaintiffs will suffer immediate and irreparable harm. Because the plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits of their claims, and the public interest and equities highly favor their position, the new rule will be enjoined, and its application stayed,” Reeves wrote.

Riley Gaines, a former NCAA champion swimmer who has become the voice of women athletes fighting for fairness, commented, “This is a huge win. The gender ideology house of cards is falling fast.”

The complaint argued that for 50 years Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act “has helped equalize women’s access to educational facilities and programs by barring discrimination ‘on the basis of sex’ by schools receiving federal funds. At the same time, given the ‘enduring physical differences between men and women, United States v. Virginia, 418, 533 (1996), Title IX has always allowed the nation’s schools to divide private spaces and participation on sports teams by sex. Yet through unprecedented new regulations, the U.S. Department of Eduction now seeks to twist Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination into a mandate that schools protect and promote their students’ ‘gender identity,’ among other ‘sex characteristics.'”

Alliance Defending Freedom is one of the key litigants along withthe states fighting against the new Biden interpretation of the definition of “female.”

“Our client, Adaleia Cross, has already suffered harassment by a male student in the locker room and on her sports team. 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 Alliance wrote.

“The Biden administration’s radical redefinition of ‘sex’ will upend the equal opportunities that women and girls have enjoyed for 50 years under Title IX and will threaten their safety and privacy at every level,” said ADF Senior Counsel Hal Frampton, who argued before the court. “The court was right to halt the administration’s illegal efforts to rewrite Title IX while this critical lawsuit continues. Our female athlete client has already suffered the humiliation and indignity of being harassed by a male student in the locker room and on her sports team. No one else should have to go through that. We are pleased the court ruled to uphold safety and privacy while this lawsuit continues.”

Judge Reeves wrote in his decision, “Nonetheless, despite society’s enduring recognition of biological differences between the sexes, as well as an individual’s basic right to bodily privacy, the Final Rule mandates that schools permit biological men into women’s intimate spaces, and women into men’s, within the educational environment based entirely on a person’s subjective gender identity. This result is not only impossible to square with Title IX but with the broader guarantee of education protection for all students.”

Adaleia Cross, pictured above, is a 15-year-old girl in West Virginia who was forced to compete against a male athlete on her middle school track-and-field team. The male displaced her several times, even taking away her spot to compete in a conference championship, the Alliance wrote. The male athlete was also given access to the girls’ locker room, and the client had to endure vulgar, sexual comments that the athlete directed at her.

The male athlete has finished ahead of almost 300 female competitors in three years of competition on the girls’ team, the lawsuit wrote.

The order halts the Biden Title IX rule changes in the states that have won the temporary injunction while the lawsuit State of Tennesse v. Cardona proceeds.

Read the complaint at this link.

Read the judge’s order at this link.