The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services amended a Biden-era regulation Friday and clarified that gender dysphoria is not a physical disability when it is not caused by a physical impairment. The HHS Office for Civil Rights issued the final rule under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which bars disability discrimination by programs and activities that receive federal funds.
A 2024 final rule from the Biden administration indicated that gender dysphoria could qualify as a disability under Section 504. HHS now says the statute’s exclusions control. The original law excluded “gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments” from coverage, and the new rule adds those exclusions to HHS regulations at 45 C.F.R. § 84.4(g).
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced the proposed rule at a December 2025 event. He said Congress, not agencies, defined which conditions receive disability-law protection, and that “HHS has a duty to faithfully apply the law as written.” HHS OCR Director Paula M. Stannard said the rule requires HHS funding recipients to follow those definitions and removes confusion for the people they serve.
The decision draws a national line for federally funded health and human-services programs. Disability law was written to protect people with disabilities from discrimination. It should not be stretched to advance gender ideology or pressure institutions to treat a psychological diagnosis as a physical impairment. The next step is enforcement by HHS OCR across the programs it funds.
