Schools retain the right to decide which teams trans athletes can join after the final Biden U-turn.
The Biden administration on Friday withdrew a proposed rule change that would have prevented schools from banning transgender athletes from teams that match their gender identity.
The administration notified the public that it had withdrawn the proposed rule from the Federal Register.
The government had proposed the rule in April 2023 and invited the public to comment. On Friday it said it had received more than 150,000 public comments.
Many of the comments were against the proposed rule, the administration wrote in its Federal Register filing. That, along with multiple ongoing lawsuits related to gender identity and sports, led the government “to refrain from regulating this area at this time.”
Critics say transgender women who participate in women's sports are often bigger and stronger than their cisgender opponents and have an unfair advantage.
Earlier this year, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics banned transgender women from competing in women's sports, a tougher stance than other athletic organizations that allow trans athletes to compete based on testosterone levels.
Transgender rights have become a political hot button in recent years. Republicans at all levels campaigned vigorously on the issue in November, with a particular focus on transgender women participating in college sports.
President-elect Donald Trump pledged during his campaign to restrict gender-affirming healthcare and participation in transgender sports.
The 2023 Biden proposal would have given flexibility to K-12 schools and colleges to limit the participation of transgender students, while including them could undermine “fairness in competition” or potentially lead to sports-related injuries can lead.
The proposal would have made changes to Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funding.
Title IX, which requires schools to provide equal opportunities for women in U.S. educational programs, has opened the door to more women in sports.
The U.S. Supreme Court this month signaled its willingness to uphold a Republican-backed ban in Tennessee on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.
Earlier this year, the season of transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming and the SJSU team was marred by strikes from rival schools and limited protests amid the outrage over Fleming, who is a biological male.
Multiple opponents declined to play SJSU this season due to concerns about Fleming.
A large number of players from colleges in the same conference as SJSU even filed a lawsuit to block Fleming from the Mountain West tournament, before some of the player's teammates even jumped on board.
The lawsuit argued that allowing them to participate would knowingly violate a law prohibiting sex discrimination in women's sports.
However, Judge S. Kato Crews — an appointee of President Biden in the U.S. District Court in Colorado — ruled that Fleming could continue competing on SJSU's women's team despite that charge.
In 2022, a women's volleyball player suffered severe brain damage after being knocked to the ground by a transgender opponent.
Payton McNabb was 17 when a ball forcefully spiked by a transgender opponent struck her in the face, threw her to the ground and left her unconscious as she played a volleyball match.
Payton suffered brain damage and paralysis on her right side, which ended her dreams of getting a college scholarship for volleyball and made it difficult to walk without falling.
Two years later, her parents are urging families to “pull your child out of sports competitions” amid the controversy surrounding trans athletes.
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