A federal judge has struck down parts of former President Joe Biden’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance that said Title VII protections against sex-based employment discrimination also included discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northwestern District of Texas, a Trump appointee, said in his decision that language in the guidance that claimed “sex” in Title VII included sexual orientation and gender identity is “contrary to law,” Fox News reported.
“Sex-based discrimination under Title VII includes employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” the Biden-era guidance said. “Accordingly, sex-based harassment includes harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity, including how that identity is expressed.”
“The contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law, are not meant to bind the public in any way, and do not obviate the need for the EEOC and its staff to consider the facts of each case and applicable legal principles when exercising their enforcement discretion,” it added.
The lawsuit against the guidance was brought by the conservative group the Heritage Foundation.
“The Biden EEOC tried to compel businesses—and the American people—to deny basic biological truth. Today, thanks to the great state of Texas and the work of my Heritage colleagues, a federal judge said: not so fast,” Dr. Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action for America, said in a press release.
“This ruling is more than a legal victory. It’s a cultural one. It says no—you don’t have to surrender common sense at the altar of leftist ideology. You don’t have to pretend men are women. And you don’t have to lie to keep your job,” he said.
“Heritage is doing exactly what the conservative movement needs to do: stop apologizing, start suing, and take back institutions,” he said.
“Today is a great day for the rule of law, common sense, and women and girls across the country. We applaud Judge Kacsmaryk’s prudent decision to overturn Biden-era regulations that forced female employees to share spaces with men—something the vast majority of Americans reject as fundamentally wrong, Dan Mauler, general counsel and secretary at The Heritage Foundation, said.
“Heritage successfully partnered with Texas to fight the Biden administration’s illegal weaponization of civil rights law to push leftist social engineering. Biden’s EEOC attempted to force all businesses and state governments to permit biological men into women-only spaces, including restrooms and locker rooms. Even worse, the Biden EEOC tried to force employees to lie about fundamental, undeniable truth by requiring employees use preferred pronouns over biological fact,” he noted further.
“Heritage is proud of today’s outcome and more committed than ever to fighting for sanity, safety, and meritocracy in the workplace,” Mauler added.
The White House said that the decision is a “major win for women and commonsense.”
The judge “confirmed what the Trump Administration consistently maintains: government-imposed DEI policies requiring bathroom, dress, and pronoun accommodations are illegal,” White House spokesman Harrison Fields said to Fox News Digital.
“The Biden Administration unlawfully tried to twist federal law into a tool for advancing radical gender ideology by attempting to force employers to adopt ‘transgender’ policies or risk being sued,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a press release. “The federal government has no right to force Texans to play along with delusions or ignore biological reality in our workplaces. This is a great victory for common sense and the rule of law.”
The EEOC said on its website that it needs a quorum to vote on rescinding guidance documents.
“As of January 28, 2025, the EEOC no longer has a quorum of its bipartisan leadership panel of Commissioners, following the departures of two Commissioners,” it said, noting there are currently just two members – one Republican and one Democrat.