Trans students are protected by Finalized Biden Title IX requirements.

After more than a year of difficulties and mounting pressure from advocacy groups, the Biden administration on Friday unveiled a last set of sweeping changes to Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex-based prejudice at government-funded institutions.

The last changes, which reinstate protections for undergraduate survivors of physical assault and abuse that were previously implemented under former President Trump, will go into effect on August 1. 1.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on Friday in a statement that these last rules clarify the tradition of Title IX and make it clear that all students in our country may attend schools that are loving, respectful, and respect their rights.

The administration’s final revision to the landmark civil rights law, which increases protections for LGBTQ students, was originally scheduled for May but was postponed several times, causing unsatisfying supporters of President Biden’s campaign promises of a “quick close ” to Title IX regulations, which were promised by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

The Education Department attributed the pause to the unheard of number of public comments on the plan, which the agency is required to take into account before issuing a last rule. More than 240,000 remarks were submitted during a 30-day time, roughly twice the amount the office received during its last Title IX overhaul in 2020.

The administration ’s new regulations aim to equip schools with clear-cut instructions to promptly and effectively respond to “all sex discrimination, not limited to sexual harassment, ” said Catherine Lhamon, the Education Department’s assistant secretary for civil rights.

The last rule expands the definition of gender bias to include gender identity and sexual orientation, taking into account the reasoning behind a 2020 Supreme Court decision that found that current civil rights laws shield employees from discrimination based on transgender position.

A senior administration official said that the new Title IX regulations could in some instances prevent people from adhering to some Republican-backed legislation that Gay advocates have said create a hostile environment for transgender kids. These include measures that prohibit people from using features that match their gender identity or prohibit schools from requiring staff and students to use a trans person’s name and pronouns, according to a senior administration official.

Republicans will be sure to object to the final changes, which would likely offend them immediately because they criticized the proposal’s protections for transgender students as an attack on cisgender women and girls.

A separate rule governing athletics eligibility has not yet been finalized by the administration. The Education Department’s proposal, which was unveiled last April, would forbid schools from enacting policies categorically for transgender student-athletes, but high schools and colleges could still have the authority to restrict how and when trans students can compete in accordance with their gender identity.

According to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit organization that monitors LGBTQ laws, twenty-four states have passed laws since 2021 that prohibit transgender student athletes from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity. Court orders are blocking the enforcement of laws passed in Arizona, Idaho, West Virginia and Utah.

Most of the changes made under Trump are removed by the Biden administration’s Title IX revamp, including a narrow definition of sexual harassment and a requirement that all school conduct live hearings with cross-examination for sexual misconduct investigations.

The new regulations also establish a lower burden of proof for survivors and students alleging sex discrimination, replacing the former administration ’s “clear and convincing ” evidence standard with a “preponderance of the evidence ” standard of proof.

The Biden administration ’s final update does, however, maintain several “major provisions ” from the previous regulations, the Education Department said, to ensure consistency while schools update required procedures to more effectively address sex discrimination.

Additionally, precautions have been strengthened for pregnant employees or students, such as ensuring that students and employees have clean, private lactation areas, and making other appropriate adjustments.