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Education Department formally rescinds the Biden Title IX rule

Washington, District of ColumbiaPublished 29 Sep 2026

The U.S. Department of Education building in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Department of Education building in Washington, D.C.

G. Edward Johnson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 · source

The department removed the 2024 Title IX regulations from the federal code and put the 2020 rule back in print. Courts had already set the 2024 rule aside.

On Sept. 28, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education formally rescinded the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX rule and restored the 2020 regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations. The department said it has enforced the 2020 rule since January 2025, after courts blocked and then vacated the 2024 rule. Advocates for LGBTQ students and sexual-assault survivors said the move weakens protections. The department said the published text now matches the rules schools are already under.

Shared facts

On Sept. 28, 2026, the Education Department formally rescinded the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX rule.

The 2024 rule had treated sexual orientation and gender identity as part of Title IX’s ban on sex discrimination.

The department restored the 2020 Title IX rule in the Code of Federal Regulations.

The department has enforced the 2020 rule since January 2025, after courts set aside the 2024 rule.

Courts enjoined the 2024 Title IX rule, and later rulings vacated it.

A federal court in Kentucky vacated the 2024 rule nationwide around the time President Biden left office.

Federal courts dismissed the remaining litigation over the 2024 rule last month, clearing the way for this rulemaking.

The rescission takes effect when it is published in the Federal Register.

The department rescinded the 2024 rule without a public notice-and-comment period.

Secretary Linda McMahon said publishing the 2020 text matches court orders and tells schools which rules apply.

McMahon said the department will hold schools accountable if they violate women’s and girls’ rights, privacy, or athletic opportunities.

McMahon said boys and men compete in boys’ and men’s sports and girls compete in girls’ sports.

The 2020 rule, issued under Betsy DeVos, narrowed the sexual-harassment standard and added procedural protections, including live hearings in some college cases.

The 2020 rule did not explicitly ban transgender students from teams that match their gender identity.

In June 2026 the Supreme Court upheld Idaho and West Virginia laws that limit girls’ and women’s sports to female athletes.

A department agreement with the University of Pennsylvania required restored records and titles, and apologies, after a transgender swimmer competed on the women’s team.

The Education and Justice departments announced a Title IX Special Investigations Team in April 2025.

The federal government has moved against Maine over transgender athletes in girls’ sports, including a Justice Department case.

Rep. Tim Walberg said returning to the 2020 regulations restores protections for women and girls.

The Human Rights Campaign called the no-comment change a monstrous injustice.

Shiwali Patel of the National Women’s Law Center said the 2020 rule weakens protections against sexual harassment.

Title IX, enacted in 1972, bars sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.

For many schools, Monday’s publication does not change day-to-day enforcement, because the 2020 rule was already in use.

In fiscal 2025, after Trump’s inauguration, the Office for Civil Rights entered no resolution agreements in K-12 sexual harassment and assault cases.

The department has threatened to withhold federal funds from Northern Virginia districts.

McMahon said the department would look at each circumstance rather than treat the Penn agreement as a single framework.

The department said its Title IX investigations include California community colleges, a Wisconsin school, and Western Carolina University.

Shared opinions

The department said Title IX’s purpose is to protect women’s safety, dignity, and educational opportunities.

Advocates said the 2020 rule downplayed sexual abuse and left victims unprotected, while conservatives praised it.

Washington Examiner

Education Department rescinds Biden-era gender identity language

David Zimmermann

Published 28 Sep 2026 accessed 28 Sep 2026

Facts

Perry said the department fully rescinded the 2024 Title IX rule, which drew at least 10 lawsuits that the Biden administration lost.

Republican-led states and conservative groups challenged expanded LGBT protections shortly after the revised Title IX rule was released in April 2024.

Perry was senior counsel in the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights when the 2020 rule was implemented.

Opinion

The Washington Examiner said President Trump has championed women’s sports since he returned to office.

Sarah Parshall Perry of Defending Education welcomed the decision to drop gender-identity language and return to the 2020 Title IX rule.

Perry said returning Title IX to that reading is its rightful and lawful interpretation.

K-12 Dive

Education Department takes 2024 Title IX rule off the books

K-12 Dive

Published 28 Sep 2026 accessed 28 Sep 2026

Facts

The department said a comment period would be contrary to the public interest because it would delay an update that records court decisions striking down the 2024 rule.

The department said in the final rule that the 2024 Title IX rule is null.

Federal Title IX policy has reversed course since President Trump’s second term began.

Earlier this month OCR announced one of its first resolution agreements closing a sexual-misconduct investigation under this administration.

Opinion

No opinion marked.

OutKick

Education Department rescinds Biden Title IX rule, restores Trump-era regulations

Dan Zaksheske

Published 28 Sep 2026 accessed 28 Sep 2026

Facts

McMahon said schools should return to the Trump-era rules rather than face a new deadline she named.

A separate proposal on athletic-team eligibility was withdrawn in December 2024.

Asked about Maine, California, and Minnesota, McMahon described reimbursement requirements for high-risk funding recipients.

On Feb. 5, 2025, Trump signed a “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order at the White House, joined by women athletes.

McMahon advised parents whose daughters are told to compete against a male athlete, or share a locker room with one, to raise it with school officials, including the superintendent, and to report it to federal authorities.

Asked about a nationwide sex-based eligibility rule for girls’ sports, McMahon pointed to Title IX itself.

Opinion

McMahon said the Biden regulations took away many of those rights.

McMahon said the change returns Title IX to its original intent.

U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Education formally rescinds the Biden administration’s Title IX rewrite

U.S. Department of Education

Published 28 Sep 2026 accessed 28 Sep 2026

Facts

The department said that office investigated staff for using incorrect pronouns or for not asking students to declare a preferred gender.

The department said the team has examined education and sports agencies in California, Washington, and Minnesota.

The department said it put five Northern Virginia districts on reimbursement status for more than $50 million and designated them high-risk for refusing to follow Title IX.

The department said it investigated Los Angeles Unified and Puyallup over reports they failed to respond to sexual assault and harassment allegations.

The department said it has taken enforcement action when institutions refused to fix Title IX violations.

The department said it referred Minnesota and California education and high school sports agencies to the Justice Department after they refused resolution agreements.

Opinion

The department said Title IX includes single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms and sports limited to biological female athletes.

The department said Biden’s Office for Civil Rights illegally pushed schools to allow males into women’s sports and intimate facilities.

The department said the 2020 rule aligns Title IX with biological reality rather than ideological fantasy.

The department said nineteen months of action has reversed immeasurable harm to women and girls by restoring Title IX’s original meaning.

The 74

Education Department formally removes Title IX protections for LGBTQ students

Linda Jacobson

Published 28 Sep 2026 accessed 28 Sep 2026

Facts

Officials stopped short of defining sex as male or female at birth.

A definition of sex is expected in a future Title IX amendment that has not been published.

The department is investigating 20 districts, using civil-rights data, on staff-on-student sexual misconduct.

When Trump took office he issued an executive order that labeled the Biden-era rule gender-ideology extremism.

Patel questioned why the administration has not weighed in on a lawsuit by a former Cornell student who alleges she was drugged and gang-raped by seven fraternity members.

The Justice Department has sued California, Maine, and Minnesota over gender-identity policies.

Because of litigation, the 2024 rule never took effect in about half the states.

McMahon said girls have been injured by a male competing against them.

The 74 reported it is unlikely the public will be able to comment on that amendment.

Opinion

McMahon previewed the change Sunday on a Fox sports show and called it a full return to the first-term rule.

McMahon said rescinding the 2024 rule would give women and parents greater comfort.

Some attorneys who advise districts and colleges said the last few years have felt like the wild west.

Washington Blade

Education Department rolls back protections for LGBTQ students under Title IX

Washington Blade

Published 28 Sep 2026 accessed 28 Sep 2026

Facts

An Education Department fact sheet called the Biden expansion to sexual orientation and gender identity an unlawful stretch of Title IX and said removing it shows which rules are actually in force.

Patel said McMahon and the Trump administration are ignoring survivors and using Title IX to attack transgender students.

The Blade said Monday’s action returns to a first-term policy after Biden ordered agencies to curb discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Washington Blade said the department did not answer whether Title IX protections still include LGBTQ students.

Before this administration, McMahon was a WWE executive and then went into politics.

Opinion

Opponents said the move will harm transgender athletes and weaken protections for sexual-assault victims.

Patel said sexual harassment and assault remain pervasive and schools should enforce laws that protect survivors.

The Blade said McMahon framed the change as a step toward keeping transgender students out of women’s sports.

The Washington Blade said Title IX policy often leaves out gender-diverse and non-heterosexual students.

The Washington Blade called the first Trump administration’s Title IX policy flagrantly anti-LGBTQ.

LGBTQ activists called the decision an attack on LGBTQ safety, especially for transgender students.

Robinson said Title IX is about keeping students safe from abuse, harassment, and discrimination.

Robinson called the rule a monstrous injustice and said voters should hold the administration accountable in November.

Advanced Manufacturing

Trump strips Biden-era LGBTQ+ language from Title IX rules

Christopher Wiggins

Published 28 Sep 2026 accessed 28 Sep 2026

Facts

The 2024 rule did not set a sports-eligibility policy, and Monday’s action does not either.

The announcement comes during the administration’s campaign against transgender students in girls’ and women’s sports.

Students still have rights under the 1972 Title IX statute, and schools can keep policies that support LGBTQ students and survivors.

Opinion

Cathy Renna of the National LGBTQ Task Force said the rollback weakens protections for transgender students, women and girls, and students who experience sexual violence.

The Advocate said formal removal matters to students who saw the 2024 rule as a clear federal promise.

Survivors’ advocates said the 2020 framework can make it harder to pursue complaints.

McMahon has described the department’s Title IX enforcement as a defense of athletic opportunities for women and girls.