By: Paul Goldberg – Senior Correspondent | LGBT Politics USA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — (September 28, 2026) — LGBTQ students have lost a major federal regulatory protection under Title IX after the Trump administration formally rescinded the Biden-era regulations that explicitly extended the Education Department’s interpretation of sex discrimination to sexual orientation and gender identity.




The Department of Education announced Monday that it has formally repealed the 2024 Title IX regulations and restored the regulatory framework adopted during President Donald Trump’s first administration in 2020.

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The move represents another major reversal in the federal government’s approach to LGBTQ rights in education and places transgender students, sexual orientation and gender identity at the center of an ongoing national legal and political battle over the meaning of Title IX.

Importantly, Monday’s action formalizes a framework that was already effectively governing Title IX after a federal district court vacated the Biden administration’s 2024 rule in January 2025. The Education Department states that the 2024 regulations are not effective in any jurisdiction and that the 2020 regulations remain in effect.

What the Trump Administration Changed

The Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX regulations expanded the federal government’s interpretation of sex discrimination to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The regulations also changed how schools were required to address sexual harassment and other forms of sex-based discrimination.

The Trump administration rejected that interpretation and returned to the 2020 Title IX regulations.

The Education Department says Title IX protections are based on sex and has argued that previous administrations improperly expanded the law to encompass gender identity.

In April, the department had already rescinded portions of six Title IX resolution agreements involving schools, arguing that previous administrations had improperly used Title IX to address gender identity rather than sex discrimination.

Monday’s action now formally puts the department’s regulations behind that position.




LGBTQ Students Are at the Center of the Change

For LGBTQ students, the most consequential difference involves the federal government’s treatment of sexual orientation and gender identity under Title IX.

The Biden-era regulations expressly addressed discrimination involving sexual orientation and gender identity. Those provisions are no longer part of the operative federal Title IX regulations.

That does not mean LGBTQ students have no legal protections.

State civil-rights laws, local school policies and other federal laws can provide protections depending on the circumstances and jurisdiction.

But the Education Department’s current Title IX framework no longer provides the Biden-era regulatory interpretation that treated sexual orientation and gender identity as forms of sex discrimination under the federal education law.

That distinction is particularly important for transgender students, whose rights in schools have become one of the most contested issues in American education policy.




Women’s Sports Remain a Central Issue

The Trump administration has repeatedly made women’s athletics a central part of its Title IX enforcement strategy.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon has argued that the restored regulations provide greater clarity for schools, parents and students while protecting women’s athletic opportunities and privacy.

The Education Department has also launched Title IX investigations involving allegations concerning transgender participation in women’s sports and access to women-only spaces.

The department’s position is that Title IX’s protections are based on sex rather than gender identity.

That interpretation is fundamentally different from the Biden administration’s 2024 approach.

Advocates Warn of Consequences for LGBTQ Students and Survivors

LGBTQ and civil-rights advocates have strongly criticized the administration’s decision.

Shiwali Patel, senior director of education justice at the National Women’s Law Center, argued that the federal government should be strengthening protections for students who experience sexual harassment and assault rather than reducing them.

Patel also accused the Trump administration of using Title IX enforcement to target transgender students.

Advocates have raised concerns that the rollback could affect both LGBTQ students and survivors of sexual violence, particularly because the 2024 regulations contained provisions concerning sexual harassment and schools’ responsibilities for addressing those complaints.

The administration disputes that characterization and says its approach restores Title IX to what it considers the statute’s proper meaning.




The Biden Rule Was Already Blocked by the Courts

One important piece of the story is that Monday’s announcement does not represent the first day the Biden-era protections stopped being enforceable.

The 2024 regulations faced immediate legal challenges from Republican-led states and other opponents.

On January 9, 2025, a federal district court vacated the 2024 Title IX rule. The Education Department’s own regulatory history states that the rule is therefore not effective in any jurisdiction and that the 2020 regulations remain in effect.

The Trump administration subsequently abandoned appeals defending the Biden-era interpretation and returned to enforcing the 2020 regulations.

Monday’s action therefore represents the formal regulatory conclusion of a process that had already been playing out through the courts and federal enforcement agencies.



A Major Reversal in Federal LGBTQ Policy

The reversal demonstrates how dramatically federal LGBTQ policy can change between presidential administrations.

The Biden administration interpreted Title IX’s prohibition against sex discrimination broadly enough to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Trump administration has rejected that interpretation and restored the 2020 framework.

The Education Department says the change will reduce confusion for schools and families by establishing a single federal regulatory framework.

McMahon said the department would continue enforcing what she described as protections for women’s rights, privacy and athletic opportunities.

For LGBTQ advocates, however, the same change represents a significant reduction in federal recognition of LGBTQ protections under Title IX.

Both descriptions reflect the fundamentally different policy positions being advanced by the two administrations.



What Happens Next?

The latest action does not end the legal battle over LGBTQ students and Title IX.

Questions involving transgender athletes, school facilities, pronoun policies, sexual harassment, gender identity and discrimination remain subject to litigation and to different laws and policies across the country.

State governments also continue to adopt different approaches, meaning that the practical experience of an LGBTQ student can vary significantly depending on where that student lives and attends school.

For schools receiving federal funding, however, Monday’s announcement provides a much clearer signal about the position the Trump Education Department intends to enforce.

The Biden-era federal regulatory expansion is gone.

The 2020 Title IX framework is once again the governing federal regulation.

And for LGBTQ students, the next phase of the fight will increasingly move to the courts, state governments, school districts and Congress.

JRL CHARTS LGBT Politics USA will continue tracking the federal Title IX battle and its impact on LGBTQ students, transgender Americans and education policy across the United States.




Paul Goldberg
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