State by State · Amicus brief
ICONS backed the states challenging the 2024 federal Title IX rule’s gender-identity redefinition of sex discrimination in Louisiana v. U.S. Department of Education at the Fifth Circuit.
The law in Louisiana
Law in force · Covers K-12 and colleges
Louisiana law (2022) keeps girls' and women's teams for females in public schools and colleges and in private schools that receive state money. Girls who lose an opportunity to a male can sue.
Past attempts
SB 156 (2021): passed both chambers, vetoed June 21, 2021; the Senate voted to override 26–12, but the House override failed 68–30 on July 21, 2021 (bill page; NPR). In 2022 the governor let SB 44 become law without signing it (bill page).
The law in detail, with sources
The law
SB 44, “Fairness in Womens Sports Act” (2022), Act 283. Became law without Gov. John Bel Edwards’s signature June 6, 2022; effective Aug. 1, 2022 (bill page; Act 283). Codified at R.S. 4:441–446.
Who it covers
Public elementary and secondary schools, private K-12 schools that receive state funds, public colleges, and private colleges that receive state funds; interscholastic and intercollegiate teams (not intramurals) (Act 283, §§ 443–444).
Notes
Girls’ teams “shall not be open to students who are not biologically female”; biological sex is the sex on the birth certificate entered at or near birth. No government, accrediting body or athletic association may investigate or punish a school for keeping female teams, and no one may sue a school for excluding a male. Girls deprived of an opportunity or retaliated against for reporting can sue (Act 283, §§ 445–446). No court ruling against the law found.
In the courts and statehouses
September 25, 2024 · U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Appeal dropped; rule blocked
Amicus brief in Louisiana v. U.S. Department of Education (2024 Title IX rule)
ICONS backed the states challenging the 2024 federal Title IX rule's gender-identity redefinition of sex discrimination.
Outcome: The parties stipulated to dismiss the federal government's appeal, and the Fifth Circuit dismissed it on March 14, 2025, leaving the injunction against the 2024 rule in place. Source