Title IX is best known for opening the door to women’s sports. These days, it’s also at the center of a much bigger fight over LGBTQ rights in schools, and it just got a new chapter.
On September 28, 2026, the Department of Education announced that it was formally rescinding the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX regulations and restoring the 2020 version. The 2024 rules expanded Title IX’s protections to cover discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the move would make the published regulations “faithfully reflect court orders and Congressional intent,” while LGBTQ advocates warned that the change weakens protections for students.[1][2]
For LGBTQ students, that change matters. The 2024 regulations explicitly interpreted Title IX’s ban on sex discrimination to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The 2020 regulations now in effect do not contain those same explicit protections. Students still have rights under Title IX itself and may have protections under other federal, state, and local laws, but the federal regulatory framework is now less protective of LGBTQ students than it was under the 2024 rule.[2][3]
The rollback also comes at a time when transgender participation in sports is already the subject of intense legal and political debate. The September action itself does not determine who can play on which sports teams. That question has developed separately through state laws, NCAA policy, and the courts.
The 2024 rule had already faced major legal challenges. Eight courts blocked the rule in 2024, and two federal courts fully vacated it in early 2025. The Department says it had not enforced the 2024 rule for more than a year and a half.[3] But formally removing the rule still matters: it eliminates the 2024 interpretation from the federal regulations and makes clear that the Department is returning to the 2020 framework.[3]
That framework is particularly important in college sports.
In February 2025, the NCAA changed its transgender participation policy. Under the current policy, athletes assigned male at birth cannot compete on NCAA women’s teams, although they may practice with women’s teams and receive other applicable team benefits. The NCAA also says that state and federal laws override NCAA rules, leaving schools to navigate whatever requirements apply where they operate.[4]
Then the Supreme Court weighed in.
On June 30, 2026, the Court upheld laws in West Virginia and Idaho that restrict girls’ and women’s school sports teams to athletes based on biological sex. In West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, the Court held that Title IX does not prohibit states from determining eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex. The Court reached that Title IX conclusion unanimously, while the justices split 6–3 on the separate Equal Protection Clause question.[5][6]
The decision did not require every state to adopt the same restriction. States with laws or policies allowing transgender participation can continue to have them, meaning the legal landscape remains a patchwork.[5]
That patchwork matters for college sports. An athletic department may have to juggle federal law, state law, NCAA rules, and its own policies all at once. Whether a transgender athlete can compete can depend on where their school is located and which rules apply there.
The impact of the Title IX rollback goes beyond sports, too. The 2020 regulations use a narrower definition of sexual harassment and impose different requirements for handling sexual-misconduct complaints than the 2024 rule did.[7] That means the change affects not only transgender students and athletes, but also how schools respond to harassment and sexual misconduct more broadly.
The result is a federal Title IX framework that looks very different from the one the Biden administration put in place in 2024. For LGBTQ students, the rollback removes explicit federal regulatory protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. For college athletes, it comes on top of an already complicated fight over who can compete in women’s sports.
And with federal policy, state laws, NCAA rules, and school policies moving in different directions, the fight over what Title IX means for LGBTQ students and college sports is far from over.
Sources
[1] U.S. Department of Education, “U.S. Department of Education Formally Rescinds the Biden Administration’s Illegal Title IX Rewrite, Reinstating the 2020 Regulation,” Sept. 28, 2026.
[2] Christopher Wiggins, “Trump strips Biden-era LGBTQ+ language from Title IX rules. Advocates warn of far-reaching damage,” The Advocate, Sept. 28, 2026.
[3] U.S. Department of Education, “Recodification of Title IX Regulations,” 91 Fed. Reg. 61308, Sept. 29, 2026.
[4] NCAA, “NCAA announces transgender student-athlete participation policy change,” Feb. 6, 2025.
[5] West Virginia v. B.P.J., Nos. 24-43 & 24-38, 609 U.S. ___ (2026), June 30, 2026.
[6] Reuters, “US Supreme Court clears way for transgender sports bans,” June 30, 2026.
[7] Jeff Brumley, “Trump admin rescinds LGBTQ protections from Title IX,” Baptist News Global, Sept. 29, 2026.
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