Title IX redefined

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 23rd of January.

This is WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you’ve joined us today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

First up on The World and Everything in It a win for women’s sports.

Last week, the House passed a bill to protect women’s sports. We’ll have more on that story in a few minutes. But first, a look at what’s happening on the state level.

REICHARD: That’s right. A federal court in Kentucky this month struck down the changes the Biden administration made to Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.

That’s a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools that receive financial aid. Last year, the Biden administration interpreted Title IX to include protections for so-called “gender identity.” Now that the regulations have been reset, how will schools be affected?

BROWN: When Title IX was reinterpreted by the Biden administration last year, it raised questions about how schools should address privacy, restroom use, athletic programs, and even what teachers can say.

YEATS: The big issue for Christian schools who have a traditional understanding of marriage is, if that is redone, then that opens up Pandora’s box to gender and sex being something that is self-interpreted, and it becomes a whole different category.

John Mark Yeats is the president of Corban University, a private Christian school in Salem, Oregon. Corban challenged the rules. Meanwhile, twenty-six states have blocked the ruling with court injunctions. One of eight lawsuits went all the way to the federal district court in Kentucky. Conservative legal defense group Alliance Defending Freedom represented the plaintiffs. Here is ADF attorney Matt Sharp.

SHARP: In this specific case, the client we’re representing, this is a middle school girl. Not only did she lose a spot on the team to a male, but that male was allowed into the restrooms and locker rooms where this young girl faced sexual harassment by this male individual in there.

REICHARD: Christian Educators is an association of teachers with some 15,000 members. It also joined the lawsuit. Its director David Schmus says changing Title IX to include gender identity violated the rights of educators.

SCHMUS: These rules would have said that K to 12 teachers in schools across the nation would have to use preferred pronouns. They would have to oversee locker rooms and bathrooms that would be able to be used by students inconsistent with their biological sex. They would have to potentially oversee overnight field trips in which accommodations would be reserved and assigned not according to biological sex.

In his court opinion, Chief U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves clearly defined sex as referring to biology. Attorney Sharp says that’s good news for schools.

SHARP: They don’t have to worry about the federal government knocking on their door and telling them that they have to embrace radical gender ideology or to contradict clear Scriptural teachings on what it means to be male and female and other core teachings.

BROWN: Between court rulings like this and the Trump administration’s commitment to interpreting statutes regarding sex according to biology, gender ideology will not be enforced via Title IX…but the battle isn’t over in many states.

SHARP: We’re still going to have places where they’re going to pass bad local laws and policies.

For example, as of January 1, California school districts can no longer require staff to inform parents if a child wants to be called by a different name or pronoun. Twenty states and Washington, D.C., have laws listing gender identity and sexual orientation as protected from discrimination. And state laws will likely continue to vary.

REICHARD: Corban University president Yeats says the confusing legal environment will require Christian leaders to exercise a lot of wisdom.

YEATS: We cannot in our Christian universities, operate in a spirit of fear. We operate in a spirit of wisdom. We operate in a spirit of understanding that that our God is sovereign, and he’s called us to serve our communities of faith at for such time as this.

While states consider their options to protect women’s spaces and sports in the future, lawmakers in Washington are taking action.

WORLD’s Travis Kircher has that story.

SOUND: House gaveled into session

TRAVIS KIRCHER: The House gaveled into session last Tuesday with GOP Congressman Tim Walberg bringing up the next piece of legislation for debate

WALBERG: Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 5, I call up the bill H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025...

House Resolution 28 would prohibit males from participating in female sports at any school that receives federal funding. It would also require that an individual’s sex be determined by their reproductive biology and genetics at birth. Here’s bill sponsor GOP Congressman Greg Steube:

STEUBE: Parents don't want biological men in locker rooms with their daughters. Nor do they believe it's fair that a male can compete with women in female athletics. This is why Title IX protections were implemented in the first place.

Supporters of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act say the legislation is needed after a Title IX rule change the Biden administration announced last year. That change redefined Title IX to prohibit sex discrimination based on so-called gender identity. Earlier this month, a federal court struck down that rule change nationwide but some Republicans say protections are still needed. GOP Congressman Mark Alford said forcing women to play against men is patently unfair.

ALFORD: It’s an insult and utter disgrace to have them robbed of the triumph by a biological male!

But critics of the bill had their own name for it. Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty:

BEATTY: When we think about this bill being proposed, it is really the Child Predator Empowerment Act…

Democrats say the bill doesn’t explain how it will be enforced or how a person’s biological sex will be verified. They say that means it will ultimately lead to invasive physical inspections of children by non-medical school employees.

MCGOVERN: Republicans are passing a bill that allows any adult in a school to inspect the genitals of our kids before they’re allowed to play sports.. What is wrong with you people?

But Congressman Walberg said those claims were nothing short of fear mongering and the bill provides no such mandate.

WALBERG: We, in this bill, offer no requirement for any type of invasive checks on women or men. They simply have to go to the birth certificate. That will give the answer.

After an hour’s worth of intense debate:

CLERK: On this vote, the yays are 218, the nays are 206, the bill is passed…

The House advanced the bill with two Democrats breaking with their party to vote in favor of it.

GAINES: I'm thrilled with the passage of H.R. 28, the Protection of Women in Girls and Sports Act, but truthfully I'm mad. I'm mad that this is something we have to do.

That’s Riley Gaines a former member of the University of Kentucky NCAA swim team. She spoke last Tuesday at a GOP news conference after the bill’s passage. In 2022, Gaines was forced to compete against a man who identified as a transgender female. She also had to share a changing room with him. She now advocates for protecting women’s sports and private spaces from intrusion by male athletes. She hosts a podcast called Gaines for Girls, and is director of the Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute.

WORLD spoke with Gaines a few days ago. She says she’s thankful for the two Texas Democrats who voted for the bill: Representatives Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar . She says she tried to talk to others, but:

GAINES: No one on the other side wants to have this conversation in a private setting, or public setting for that matter, because they know it's wrong too. They know that men on average are taller, faster, stronger, can throw further, can jump higher. I mean, they know that.

When Gaines spoke with WORLD in September, she called on women’s and girls sports teams to forfeit any games where they were forced to compete against a male player. Since then there’ve been results. Like the Boise State women’s volleyball team forfeiting in the Mountain West Conference Championship prematurely ending their season.

GAINES: I mean that that is a huge consequence that they faced for doing it. But even still, they said it's worth it. Because number one, we don't want to be hurt. We don't want to have to be on the receiving end of a kill or a spike to the face. And it said some things matter more than victory, and some of those things include the integrity of sport, and in this case, objective reality.

For now, H.R. 28 heads to the Senate. If it passes, it will be sent to President Trump’s desk for signature.

GAINES: The Senate is a lot more so it seems, on these, especially these hot button topics, they seem to be a lot more bipartisan. Do I think it has the 60 votes? That might be a stretch to get 10 or so senators, Democrats, to sign onto this. But I think there's hope.

Hope, she says, that this bill will become law to prevent future presidents from tampering with Title IX in the name of what some call progress.

GAINES: It's not progress, it's regressive, and it's utterly misogynistic to tell women they're not worthy of calling themselves champions, to tell women that we have to essentially beg for privacy in areas of undressing. It's taking us back at least 50 years in time. And I would love to be able to communicate that to anyone who voted “nay” on H.R. 28,

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher.

REICHARD: Earlier this week President Trump signed an executive order reaffirming the legal recognition of only two sexes: male and female, determined solely by biology. We'll be watching in the weeks ahead to determine how this will affect the legislative debate.

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