Biden Proposal Aims to Limit School Bans on Transgender Athletes

The Biden administration is proposing a rule that would prevent public schools and universities from issuing complete bans on transgender students competing in sports, pushing back on Republican efforts to impose restrictions on their participation.

The Department of Education aims to change Title IX regulations to prohibit schools from adopting or applying “a one-size-fits-all policy that categorically bans transgender students from participating on teams consistent with their gender identity,” according to a fact sheet released Thursday summarizing the proposal.

Schools would have flexibility to develop criteria for eligible students based on the level of competition or to prevent sports-related injuries, but those criteria “could not be premised on disapproval of transgender students or a desire to harm a particular student.”

“Every student should be able to have the full experience of attending school in America, including participating in athletics, free from discrimination,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

Enacted in 1972, Title IX, as it’s come to be commonly known, is a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any federally funded school or education program. But current Title IX mandates don’t protect students from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Last year, the Department of Education proposed sweeping changes to Title IX law to strengthen protections for transgender and nonbinary students against discrimination. At the time, the department said it would issue a separate rule regarding Title IX mandates to apply to school sports.

Republican officials in states across the country have pushed measures that would restrict the participation of transgender student athletes on women’s sports teams, part of a new GOP focus on the rights afforded to LGBTQ people, including by restricting access to gender-affirming health care and curtailing teachings on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

Earlier Thursday, the US Supreme Court allowed a 12-year-old transgender girl to continue competing on her middle school track team in West Virginia, despite a state measure that allows participation on girls’ squads only for people classified at birth as female.

Earlier: Supreme Court Lets Transgender Girl Stay on School Track Team

An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the release of the proposal and the timing of the Supreme Court decision were coincidental. The ruling likely gives the administration legal backing to pursue its new policy.

Under the proposed rule change, elementary school students “would generally be able to participate on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity,” according to the fact sheet.

But for older students, the department expects that some sex-related criteria that limits the participation of some transgender students may be permitted, “when they enable the school to achieve an important educational objective, such as fairness in competition.”

The proposed rule is open for a 30-day comment period.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Akayla Gardner in Washington at agardner81@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Mario Parker at mparker22@bloomberg.net

Meghashyam Mali, Romy Varghese

© 2023 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.