In order to determine whether a California state legislation permitting transgender student athletes to participate in women’s sports is in violation of federal Title IX regulations prohibiting sex discrimination, the Justice Department launched an investigation on Wednesday.
In “letters of legal notice,” the DOJ notified the Jurupa Unified School District, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta of the investigation.
The state’s high school athletics are governed by the CIF, and the school where a transgender track star recently won titles in the girls’ long jump and triple jump is located in the Jurupa Unified School District.
“The investigation is to determine whether California, its senior legal, educational, and athletic organizations, and the school district are engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of sex,” the DOJ stated.
A lawsuit filed by the families of two girls at a high school in Riverside, California, prompted the investigation. The lawsuit claimed that the state statute violates Title IX and “is harming hundreds – if not thousands – of female students by removing opportunities for female athletes to be champions in their own sports, robbing them of podium positions and awards, and creating unsafe and intimidating environments in their bathrooms and locker rooms.”
An 11th-grade female cross-country athlete who is one of the plaintiffs in the case alleges that she was kicked off the Martin Luther King High School girls’ varsity cross-country team to make room for a biological male athlete.
As a result, she claims she was unable to compete in competitive events and was not able to get recruited by colleges and universities.
The lawsuit also claims that by directing the 11th grader and another plaintiff, a 9th grader, to take off their t-shirts in protest of the girl’s expulsion from the cross-country team, the Riverside Unified School District, as well as the principal, assistant principal, and athletic director of Martin Luther King High School, “violated the constitutional rights” of the two students.
“Title IX exists to protect women and girls in education. It is perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon stated.
“This Division will aggressively defend women’s hard-fought rights to equal educational opportunities,” she continued.
The launch of the probe follows President Trump’s threat to withhold at least some federal assistance from California if the state keeps permitting transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports.
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Trump raged on Truth Social Tuesday, saying, “California, led by Radical Left Democrat Gavin Newscum, continues to ILLEGALLY allow ‘MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS”.
“THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS. Please be hereby advised that large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to,” he continued.
Trump threatened to withhold government funding from states that do not exclude transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports when he signed an executive order back in February.
Shortly after Trump’s post, CIF declared that it would increase the number of athletes allowed to compete in the upcoming track and field championship meet.
This would enable “any biological female student-athlete” who was initially disqualified due to the presence of transgender athletes to participate.
