Trump's Title IX Executive Orders Weaponize Federal Civil-Rights Enforcement Against Transgender Students
On Jan 30 and Feb 5, 2025, Trump signed executive orders reversing Biden-era Title IX protections for transgender students and defining 'sex' solely as biological sex at birth, stripping transgender students of civil-rights coverage and dismantling due-process safeguards for survivors of sexual assault.
Project 2025's blueprint for the Department of Education explicitly called for rescinding the Biden administration's Title IX regulations, defining 'sex' as biological sex at birth, and restoring the 2020 DeVos-era rules that weakened protections for survivors. Trump executed that plan in his first weeks back in office. On Jan 30, 2025, he signed an order reversing Biden rules that prohibited discrimination based on gender identity; on Feb 5, he signed a second order defining 'sex' in federal law as biological sex at birth. These actions remove Title IX coverage from transgender students, expose them to exclusion from facilities, athletics, and programs, and strip due-process protections from all students accused of sexual misconduct.
The harm is immediate and national in scale. The executive orders have already forced schools and colleges to choose between complying with federal civil-rights law as interpreted by Biden's Department of Education and losing federal funding under Trump's new directives. Transgender students face a return to the pre-Biden status quo where they could be legally barred from restrooms, locker rooms, and teams matching their gender identity. Meanwhile, the 2020 DeVos regulations now back in effect require live hearings and cross-examination in campus sexual-assault cases—procedures that critics say deter reporting and disproportionately harm survivors. The clear alternative is for Congress to codify the Biden-era Title IX rule, define sex discrimination to include gender identity, and restore procedural protections for survivors through legislation.
The humanitarian alternative
A federal education policy that upholds Title IX nondiscrimination protections for all students, including transgender and nonbinary individuals; maintains strong CSP accountability measures to prevent discrimination; retains and strengthens borrower defense rules to protect students from predatory colleges; and increases funding for public schools as community anchors for nutrition, health, and climate resilience.
Grounded in
Original source — excerpted
project2025 Project 2025 ch. 12: Department of Energy (pp 364-366)"— 331 — Department of Education Current Regulations Promulgated by or Relevant to the Agency That Should Be Rolled Back or Eliminated While the next Administration works to distribute department programs across the federal government, it will need to thoroughly review the many educa- tion-related regulations promulgated by the Biden Administration. There are five primary regulatory targets (as of December 2022) that require the next Adminis- tration’s attention: regulations on (1) Charter School Grant Program Priorities; (2) Civil Rights Data Collection; (3) Student Assistance General Provisions, Federal Perkins Loan Program, and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Final Regulations; (4) Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance (Title IX); and (5) Assistance to States for the Education of Children with Disabilities, Preschool Grants for Children with Disabilities (Equity in IDEA). The next Administration should also review regulatory changes to the school meals program (under the Department of Agriculture) and changes to the Income-Driven student loan program. Additional Biden Administrati…"