A federal judge in Alabama on Tuesday refused to block the Biden administration from enforcing new anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ students in four Republican-led states, breaking with six other judges who have said the rules are invalid. U.S. District Judge Annemarie Axon in Birmingham in a 122-page ruling, opens new tab rejected various arguments that the four states led by Alabama made in challenging U.S. Department of Education regulations that say a federal law barring sex discrimination in education extends to gender identity. The regulations also bar harassment against LGBTQ students, such as refusing to use a transgender student’s preferred pronouns, and changes the procedures schools must use in investigating accusations of student misconduct.