Trump administration rescinds Biden Title IX regulations

The U.S. Department of Education has formally rescinded the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX regulations, restoring the regulations adopted in 2020.

The change has received significant attention because of its implications for transgender students, but the difference between the 2020 and 2024 rule language is significantly broader than that. This action changes the federal regulatory framework for sex discrimination in education, including how schools address discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as sex-based harassment.

What changed with Title IX the week of Sept. 28, 2026?

Title IX prohibits discrimination “on the basis of sex” in federally funded education programs and activities. The Biden administration’s 2024 regulations expressly defined sex discrimination to include discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

The 2024 rule also expanded the definition of sex-based harassment and changed the standard schools use to the benefit of the victim when determining whether conduct creates a hostile environment. It included additional protections related to pregnancy and established new requirements for schools’ Title IX grievance procedures.

The Education Department has now rescinded those regulations and restored the 2020 rules. The 2020 and now 2026 regulations:

• Do not contain the same explicit language identifying sexual orientation and gender identity as forms of sex discrimination
• Use a narrower definition of sexual harassment
• Require victims to withstand a more onerous bureaucratic process that is likely to chill pursual of claims by returning schools to the 2020 framework for addressing sex-based harassment and other Title IX complaints

For Texas schools, the change largely puts back the federal rules where they were before the Biden administration’s regulation. In 2024, a federal court temporarily blocked the 2024 regulations from being enforced in Texas, and a federal court later vacated the regulations nationwide in 2025.

What does this mean for students and educators?

The rollback has been largely framed as a change affecting transgender students, but it also affects all LGBTQ students as well as pregnant students experiencing discrimination generally. The rescission impacts all students who experience harassment.

This does not mean that other federal, state, or local protections disappear. Schools still have Title IX obligations, including requirements concerning sexual harassment, grievances, and Title IX coordinators. Educators should continue to follow their district’s reporting procedures when students raise concerns about discrimination or harassment.