THE WASHINGTON POST — Discrimination against transgender students would be a violation of federal civil rights law under proposed regulations the Education Department is expected to finalize in the coming weeks. Title IX bars discrimination on the basis of sex in education, and the new rules would make clear this includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, among other things, according to two people familiar with a draft of the proposed regulation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly comment on the subject. Regulations carry the power of law. The rules, if finalized, would set up a clash with state laws that bar transgender women from competing in women’s sports. Those statutes are already being challenged in the courts.