On September 25, 2025, Defending Education (DE) filed a complaint against Las Cruces Public Schools (LCPS) with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. DE claims LCPS is breaking Title IX, a law that bans sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funds. DE also claims LCPS is violating the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, which bars government bodies, including public schools, from treating people differently because of their sex.
LCPS runs 40 schools with more than 23,000 students, but it puts a few students’ personal preferences ahead of thousands of other students’ rights. Title IX bans discrimination “on the basis of sex.” LCPS instead bans discrimination based on gender identity, even though a federal court and the Department of Education rejected that reading of Title IX in early 2025. Gender identity discrimination is not the same as sex discrimination under Title IX, and the Supreme Court has never said otherwise.
LCPS’s Regulation JBD-R gives students access to single-sex facilities “consistent with the student’s affirmed gender identity or preference.” That includes facilities at school and at all district activities, even overnight events. Under JBD-R, students may use the restroom and locker room that match their gender identity, and take part in PE classes and intramural sports the same way. In practice, biological males can use girls’ restrooms and locker rooms and play on girls’ intramural teams.
Defending Education urges the Department to investigate every claim in its complaint, fix LCPS’s illegal policies and practices, and order the right remedies.
Read the full complaint below:
