WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has found that the California Department of Education and the state’s high school sports federation violated civil rights law by allowing transgender girls to compete on girls sports teams.
The federal Education Department announced the finding Wednesday and proposed a resolution that would require California to bar transgender women from women’s sports and strip transgender athletes of records, titles and awards. It’s the latest escalation in the Republican administration’s effort to bar transgender athletes from women’s sports teams nationwide.
If California rejects the proposal, the Education Department could move to terminate the state’s federal education funding.
“The Trump Administration will relentlessly enforce Title IX protections for women and girls, and our findings today make clear that California has failed to adhere to its obligations under federal law,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. “The state must swiftly come into compliance with Title IX or face the consequences that follow.”
Title IX is a 1972 law forbidding sex discrimination based in education.
California education and sports officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Federal officials opened an investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation in February after the organization said it would abide by a state law allowing athletes to compete on teams consistent with their gender identity. That followed an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that was intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls and women’s sports.
In April, McMahon’s department opened an investigation into the California Department of Education over the same issue.
Both investigations concluded that state policies violated Title IX. The administration has been invoking the law in its campaign against transgender athletes, launching scores of investigations into schools, colleges and states. It’s a reversal from the Biden administration, which attempted to expand Title IX to provide protections for transgender students. A federal judge struck down the expansion before Trump took office in January.
The administration’s proposed resolution would require California to notify schools that transgender athletes should be barred from girls athletic teams and that all schools must “adopt biology-based definitions of the words ‘male’ and ‘female.’” The state would also have to notify schools that any conflicting interpretation of state law would be considered a violation of Title IX.
Athletes who lost awards, titles or records to transgender athletes would have their honors restored under the proposal, and the state would be required to send personal apology letters to those athletes.
A similar resolution was offered to Maine’s education agency in a separate clash with the administration over transgender athletes. Maine rejected the proposal in April, prompting a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to terminate the state’s federal education funding.
Under federal guidelines, California’s education office and the sports federation have 10 days to come into compliance or risk enforcement action.
The federation separately tested a pilot policy at a state track meet in May, allowing one extra competitor in three events featuring high school junior AB Hernandez, who is trans. The organization announced the change after Trump took to social medial to criticize Hernandez’s participation. The Justice Department said it would investigate Hernandez’s district and the state to determine if Title IX was being violated.
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