A girls’ basketball team from a Christian school in California will compete against a team with a transgender player.
“As long as the parents are on board with playing the game, we will support the girls’ hard work this season and play the game,” Cornerstone Christian athletic director Madison Alexander told Fox News Digital. Last fall, a different Christian school forfeited a playoff match against the team with the transgender athlete, San Francisco Waldorf.
In defiance of President Donald Trump’s order banning biological males from women’s sports, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said that it will operate 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.
The Education Department’s deputy general counsel, Candice Jackson, told the outlet that it will monitor the girls’ basketball playoffs.
“CIF sets the parameters under which schools compete in these playoffs, and they have responsibility as recipients of federal funds to comply with Title IX. OCR’s investigation into CIF is continuing as it appears that CIF’s disregard for Title IX is continuing,” Jackson said.
California lawmakers have sought to push back against the state’s educational and athletic policies regarding gender ideology. One bill aims to reinstate sex-segregated sports teams, restrooms, and changing facilities, ensuring that biological females compete and share private spaces exclusively with other biological females.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) launched Title IX investigations into CIF and other states defying Trump’s order. “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.
