The Trump administration has formally rescinded the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX regulations, which expanded the federal definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity and sexual orientation, and restored the regulatory framework adopted during President Donald Trump’s first term.

The Education Department’s action removes the Biden administration’s 2024 regulations from the federal regulatory code and returns schools to the 2020 Title IX framework. The department had already returned to enforcing the 2020 rules after a federal court vacated the Biden-era regulations in January 2025.

Title IX is a federal civil rights law enacted in 1972 that prohibits sex discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.

The Biden administration’s 2024 regulations made a significant change to how that prohibition was defined, stating that sex discrimination included discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation and gender identity. The rules also changed how schools were required to address sex-based harassment and sexual misconduct.

A federal district court in Kentucky vacated the 2024 regulations nationwide on Jan. 9, 2025. The ruling meant the Biden-era regulations could no longer be enforced, leaving the 2020 Title IX framework in effect.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the latest action formally removes the Biden administration’s regulations from the federal regulatory code and ensures the published regulations reflect the court’s ruling and the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title IX.

The 2020 framework established specific procedures for schools and colleges handling allegations of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. Among other requirements, it created a formal complaint process and required live hearings in certain higher-education cases, with opportunities for representatives of both parties to question witnesses and challenge evidence.

The Biden-era regulations had also changed the federal government's approach to transgender-related discrimination in schools. The 2024 rule stated that Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination covered discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, a provision that became a major point of disagreement between the Biden and Trump administrations.

McMahon has connected the administration’s Title IX policy to its position on sex and women’s sports. The Education Department has pursued investigations involving schools accused of allowing males to compete in women’s sports or use women-only facilities.

The latest regulation itself does not formally establish a new definition of “sex” under Title IX as biological sex. The Trump administration has separately pursued policies defining sex as male or female based on biological classification and has indicated that additional Title IX regulations could address the issue.

The rescission has drawn opposing reactions from advocacy groups. Critics argue that returning to the 2020 framework reduces protections for transgender students and changes how schools respond to sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Conservative groups and the Education Department have argued that the Biden administration improperly expanded Title IX beyond its statutory language and that the law’s protections are based on sex rather than gender identity. The department has described the 2024 rule as an expansion of Title IX beyond biological sex.

Monday’s action formally puts the 2020 Title IX regulations back into the federal regulatory code as the Trump administration continues reversing Biden-era education policies.