In Carroll Independent School District v. U.S. Department of Education, (ND TX, Feb. 19, 2025), a Texas federal district court invalidated the Department of Education’s rule that interprets Title IX as prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The court had previously issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the rule against plaintiff school district. The court now permanently vacates the Rule, finding, among other things, that it violates the First Amendment. The court said in part:
Because “misgendering” could, under this broad standard, constitute hostile environment harassment, teachers will “assume they should use subjective gender terms to avoid discipline under the Final Rule.”
As a consequence, recipients of Title IX funds, including teachers, are forced “to be an instrument for fostering public adherence to an ideological point of view [they] find[] unacceptable.”... The Final Rule functionally turns recipients of federal funds into federally commandeered censors of speech, forcing schools to require engagement in or, at a minimum, to prohibit certain kinds of speech, which in turn represses what has long been regarded as protected forms of expression and religious exercise.
ADF issued a press release announcing the decision.
