The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) launched Title IX investigations into Minnesota’s and California’s athletic organizations.
Both the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) declared their intentions not to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order on the protection of women’s sports.
On February 5, Trump signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” effectively barring transgender individuals from participating in women’s sports at educational institutions receiving federal funding.
Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said of the investigation, “The Minnesota State High School League and the California Interscholastic Federation are free to engage in all the meaningless virtue-signaling that they want, but at the end of the day they must abide by federal law.”
“OCR’s Chicago and San Francisco regional offices will conduct directed investigations into both organizations to ensure that female athletes in these states are treated with the dignity, respect, and equality that the Trump Administration demands,” Trainor said. “I would remind these organizations that history does not look kindly on entities and states that actively opposed the enforcement of federal civil rights laws that protect women and girls from discrimination and harassment.”
The California Interscholastic Federation said that it operates in compliance with state law. According to the state’s education code, students are allowed to participate in school programs that correspond with their gender identity.
According to the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL), a transgender athlete’s eligibility to participate in sports is based on state law.
“State laws do not override federal antidiscrimination laws, and these entities and their member schools remain subject to Title IX and its implementing regulations,” the Education Department’s press release noted.
