Biden withdraws transgender athlete regulation

President Biden's administration on Friday "withdrew a pending regulation governing transgender athletes, abandoning an effort to provide some protections for transgender students that the incoming Trump administration has said it opposes.” The proposal involved "amending Title IX." The Education Department said that it received “more than 150,000 public comments during a 30-day comment period that 'offered a broad spectrum of opinions.'" It also noted that there are “several ongoing lawsuits related to the application of Title IX in the context of gender identity,” including several “challenging a companion regulation the administration finalized in April that more broadly protects gay and transgender students.” The proposal would have “prohibited policies that categorically ban transgender student-athletes from participating on sports teams that match their gender identity" but would have “still allowed schools to enforce some restrictions, particularly in competitive sports” (THE HILL, 12/20).