South Dakota one of 26 states not implementing new Title IX rules

New Title IX rules took effect in nearly half of U.S. states Thursday, but South Dakota wasn’t one of them.

The rules would’ve prohibited discrimination based on things like sexual orientation, gender identity (which includes protections for being transgender or nonbinary, for example) and sex characteristics in education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance.

But an injunction in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri prevents the new rules from taking effect in South Dakota as well as Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and North Dakota.

Other legal challenges prevent the rules from taking effect in Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, too, USA Today reported .

More: Biden’s new Title IX rules are all set to take effect. But not in these states.

Gov. Kristi Noem, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley and South Dakota Department of Education Secretary Joe Graves all praised the injunction. On X, Noem called the rules an “unconstitutional rewriting of Title IX,” and said that “this important ruling will ensure that mediocre men can never take opportunities away from exceptional women.”

In a press release, Jackley said the decision protects female athletes and the original intent of Title IX.

Graves said he was pleased with the outcome of the injunction since it relieves school districts of legal threats for failing to comply with the new regulations.

In another lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, more than a dozen South Dakota schools were identified as having students whose parents are members of Moms for Liberty, a national conservative political action committee and parents’ rights group that has lobbied for book bans and been called an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

If the injunction in Missouri hadn’t gone through, the following schools would’ve been the only ones in the state that didn’t have to comply with the new Title IX rules this school year:

Earlier: As South Dakota sues federal government over Title IX, school districts await guidance

• Sioux Falls’ All City and R. F. Pettigrew Elementary Schools, Ben Reifel Middle School and Washington High School;
• Brandon Valley’s Middle and High School;
• Lennox’s Elementary and Junior High School;
• Tea Area School District’s Legacy Elementary, Middle and High School;
• Brookings’ Medary Elementary School;
• And, Flandreau Elementary, Middle and High School.

Other schools could’ve been included on the list at later times, according to a “ 2024 Title IX Regulations: Pointers for Implementation ” document the US Department of Education released this month. Moms for Liberty has active South Dakota chapters in Minnehaha, Pennington, Hughes and Meade counties.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota one of 26 states not implementing new Title IX rules