Gov. Morrisey Applauds Trump Administration For Repeal Of Gender Identity Policy

The U.S. Department of Education formally rescinded a portion of the Title IX Education Amendment on Monday, reversing a 2024 policy to include transgender students on sports teams and in bathrooms that align with their gender identity. 

The announcement quickly garnered praise from Gov. Patrick Morrisey who led a six-state lawsuit to block the policy during his time as the state’s attorney general. 

“I fought the Biden administration’s rewrite of Title IX as Attorney General because it threatened the rights, privacy and opportunities of women and girls,” he said in a press release Monday. “We took them to court to stop their rule from taking effect in West Virginia, and we won.” 

Since 1972, Title IX has barred education programs or activities from discriminating or excluding participants on the basis of sex or they could risk losing federal funding. The 2024 policy expanded its interpretation of Title IX to include transgender students and allowed students to use the bathroom or play on sports teams that align with their gender identity, and also allowed for teachers to use their preferred names or pronouns.     

The U.S. Department of Education had already sent a letter to K-12 schools across the country in January 2025 effectively reversing the policy.  

Monday’s action officially reinstates the first Trump Administration’s 2020 Title IX rule that includes “the interpretation of ‘sex’ to mean the objective, immutable characteristic of being born male or female.”  

A U.S. district judge in Kentucky issued a decision vacating the rule in 2025. 

“Today, President Trump and Secretary McMahon are finishing the job by wiping the Biden rule from the books and restoring Title IX to what Congress intended. This is a major victory for women and girls, for parents, and for common sense,” Morrisey said. 

” Title IX changed America by opening doors for generations of women and girls. We should be protecting that legacy, not rewriting the law to satisfy a radical political agenda. Women deserve fair competition. Girls deserve privacy and safety. And parents deserve to know that the law will protect their daughters.” 

Morrisey finished by saying that he was proud West Virginia helped lead the fight against the 2024 policy, and expressed his gratitude to President Trump and Secretary McMahon for standing firm.  

“We fought this battle for years, and today common sense prevailed,” he said.