Education · Nationwide · September 30, 2026
Education Dept. Restores 2020 Title IX Rule, Keeping Religious Exemptions Intact
On Sept. 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education issued a final rule recodifying the 2020 Title IX Final Rule, effective upon publication in the Federal Register on Sept. 29, 2026, according to a legal alert from law firm McGuireWoods. The action formally repeals the 2024 Title IX Rule, which had expanded sex-discrimination protections to cover gender identity and had been preliminarily enjoined by eight federal courts and later vacated in Tennessee v. Cardona and Carroll ISD v. Department of Education. The Department confirms this reflects no new policy — it simply restores in the Code of Federal Regulations the rule it has already been enforcing since January 2025, including the religious exemption provisions at 34 C.F.R. § 106.12(c)–(d). Four minor, previously vacated or obsolete provisions were omitted. The Department also signaled intent to pursue future rulemaking that would define "sex" as biological sex, though no such proposal has yet been initiated.
Source: McGuireWoods
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Why Bible-Believing Christians Should Care
For Christian schools, colleges, and ministries that rely on Title IX's religious exemption to operate according to biblical teaching on sex and marriage, this recodification is significant: it removes the 2024 rule's expanded gender-identity framework and restores the exemption provisions institutions have used to maintain biblically consistent admissions, housing, and conduct policies. Genesis affirms humanity created "male and female," a distinction the 2024 rule effectively blurred by treating gender identity as protected sex discrimination. Institutions should not assume this settles matters permanently — the Department's stated intent to codify a biological-sex definition remains only a signal, not a rule, and will likely draw legal challenges. Christian institutions should stay alert to how federal sex-discrimination law continues shifting under successive administrations.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. — Genesis 1:27
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From the book
Chapter 8d shows this working. A coalition of states challenged a rule on precisely these grounds and vacated it nationwide. That outcome required plaintiffs with standing, an administrative record, and lawyers fluent in the Administrative Procedure Act, none of which can be assembled after a rule takes effect.
— Chapter 20, “The Legal Arena”
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