Supreme Court halts rules protecting LGBT students

The US Supreme Court decided not to limit lower court rulings that block the Biden administration’s anti-discrimination rules aimed at protecting LGBT youth in schools that get federal funding.

The new regulations were part of an update to Title IX, passed in 1972 to end sex-based discrimination in educational programs receiving federal assistance. It included protections for transgender students, like allowing them to use facilities that match their gender identity. 

However, some Republican-led states have challenged that these protections conflict with traditional practices of separating certain activities by biological sex.

The Biden administration wanted to enforce parts of the rules that weren’t being challenged, but the Supreme Court majority agreed there was no justification for immediate action.

So the new rules remain on hold, in 10 states that have contested them, while the case proceeds.

The US Supreme Court decided not to limit lower court rulings that block the Biden administration’s anti-discrimination rules aimed at protecting LGBT youth in schools that get federal funding.

The new regulations were part of an update to Title IX, passed in 1972 to end sex-based discrimination in educational programs receiving federal assistance. It included protections for transgender students, like allowing them to use facilities that match their gender identity.

However, some Republican-led states have challenged that these protections conflict with traditional practices of separating certain activities by biological sex.

The Biden administration wanted to enforce parts of the rules that weren’t being challenged, but the Supreme Court majority agreed there was no justification for immediate action.

So the new rules remain on hold, in 10 states that have contested them, while the case proceeds.