Kentucky federal judge issues injunction against Title IX rules in 6 states

A Kentucky federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration’s Title IX overhaul on Kentucky.

The injunction comes in a case filed by Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia and comes less than a week after a federal judge in Louisiana issued a similar ruling in a case filed by Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho.

The Kentucky preliminary injunction only impacts the six states that were part of the lawsuit, along with the Christian Educators Association International.

The new rules finalized by the Department of Education and which are supposed to go into effect Aug. 1 expand the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity and pregnancy, but the agency didn't issue any rules relating to transgender athletes. Among the changes include a prohibition on single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms and requirements that a school use pronouns based on a student's preferred gender identity.

“At bottom, the Department would turn Title IX on its head by redefining ‘sex’ to include ‘gender identity,’” the Kentucky order said. “But ‘sex’ and ‘gender identity’ do not mean the same thing.”

“As a parent and as attorney general, I joined this effort to protect our women and girls from harm," Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said. "Today’s ruling recognized the 50-plus years of educational opportunities Title IX has created for students and athletes."

U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves said that the new Title IX rules also have serious First Amendment implications because they compel speech from educators.

“This is a big victory for women and girls because the Title IX revisions being pushed by the Biden administration would have ended sex-based protections for biological women in locker rooms, bathrooms, sports and elsewhere, plain and simple,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said. “This is a retreat from the progress women have made.”