On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order ordering the U.S. Department of Education to rescind guidance issued under President Biden. The prior administration published this guidance to prevent discrimination against students and staff on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. The rescinded guidance documents included:
- 2024 Title IX Regulations: Pointers for Interpretation (July 2024)
- U.S. Department of Education Toolkit: Creating Inclusive and Nondiscriminatory School Environments for LGBTQI+ Students
- U.S. Department of Education Supporting LGBTQI+ Youth and Families in School (June 21, 2023)
- Supporting Intersex Students: A Resource for Students, Families, and Educators (October 2021)
- Supporting Transgender Youth in School (June 2021)
- Letter to Educators on Title IX’s 49th Anniversary (June 23, 2021)
- Confronting Anti-LGBTQI+ Harassment in Schools: A Resource for Students and Families (June 2021)
- Enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 With Respect to Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Light of Bostock v. Clayton County (June 22, 2021)
- Education in a Pandemic: The Disparate Impacts of COVID-19 on America’s Students (Junee 9, 2021)
- Back-to-School Message for Transgender Students from the U.S. Depts of Justice, Education, and HHS (August 17, 2021)
- Attorney General’s Memorandum, Application of Bostock v. Clayton County to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (March 26, 2021)
This guidance will likely be replaced in a manner reflecting the Executive Order’s directive that all federal agencies use sex assigned at birth when adopting and enforcing policies. A clearer picture of new guidance should emerge once the confirmation process for Education Secretary Linda McMahon concludes. President Trump also rescinded two Biden administration executive orders: 1) Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation and 2) Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free from Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity.
School districts, however, should remain mindful of their state obligations as outlined in the Connecticut State Department of Education’s 2024 Guidance on Civil Rights Protections and Supports for Transgender or Gender-Diverse Students. Connecticut prohibits public schools from discriminating against students because of their gender identity or expression. Students must be allowed to participate in classes, school activities, and school programs regardless of their gender identity or expression. This also requires school districts to ensure students are not subjected to discriminatory treatment because of their gender identity or expression. The state also prohibits the denial of rights, privileges, immunities, or public accommodations based on someone’s gender identity or expression.
President Trump took other executive action this week. He froze federal agency hiring to review federal workforce reduction, streamlining, and efficiency. He ordered all diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates, policies, programs, and activities terminated within the federal government. Two Executive Orders addressed federal rules and regulations. One froze all proposed or published rules and regulations, including those anticipated or published by the Department of Education, from the final days of the Biden administration so the current administration could review and approve those rules and regulations. Another reinstated an Executive Order from President Trump’s first administration specifying all federal agency guidance documents lacked binding authority.
The attorneys of Berchem Moses will provide further updates as more guidance is released at the federal and state level.