When considering the legal system, most people conjure images of criminal trials ripped from Law and Order. People probably know that there’s a separate civil system where you can sue, but I don’t usually remember to include the vast constellation of federal (and state and municipal) agencies in my image of the legal system, even though they have the power to adjudicate within their defined area of the law. Beyond all the laws on the books and in the courts, we’re also governed by a massive apparatus of administrative rules.

And like laws, rules can change. Last week, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released new guidelines covering gender identity-based discrimination under Title IX.

The news has been rightly heralded by transgender rights advocates as a major breakthrough in legal protections for trans* kids in public school, and follows similar efforts in New York City and California to protect trans* students from various forms of bullying and allow them to choose which bathrooms and sports facilities they’re most comfortable using. The critical line reads: “Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity.” My butch heart is all aflutter.