Biden delays Title IX rules on transgender sports after feedback surge.

The Department of Education has delayed finalizing the Biden administration’s new proposal for transgender sports rules after receiving more than 240,000 comments about the regulations. The proposal was first announced on April 6 and requires schools to allow students in elementary grades to compete in sports based on their gender identity, while leaving some wriggle room for high school and college sports to be decided by individual schools. The White House billed the proposal as a way to back transgender athletes, but Republicans criticized it for forcing schools to allow men to compete against women and girls.

Conservative lobbying groups that launched portals soliciting comments against the move, such as Heritage Action, celebrated the delay as a win. The Department of Education has updated its timeline, reflecting a new date of October 2023 for the final Title IX rule. The update made clear that the department is still pursuing the new rules, stating that the Biden-Harris administration is “committed to ensuring all students are guaranteed an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex.”

The move sets the White House up against several GOP governors, such as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), known for his engagement on culture war issues and Florida’s recent ban on transgender treatments for children. 20 states have enacted legislation to ban biologically male students from competing in high school women’s sports. If the new federal rule is implemented and schools defy it, they could lose federal funds.