The Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against Minnesota on Monday over the state’s policy of allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports and access female-only facilities, escalating a years-long standoff over Title IX compliance.
The Civil Rights Division named two defendants: the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League. The complaint alleges the state engaged in sex-based discrimination by letting males access female sports teams and intimate spaces, such as bathrooms and locker rooms, based on “gender identity” rather than biological sex.
Minnesota receives more than $3 billion annually in federal funding from the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. Title IX conditions that funding on equal opportunity for all students without sex-based discrimination.
“The Trump Administration does not tolerate flawed state policies that ignore biological reality and unfairly undermine girls on the playing field,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “This Department of Justice is proud to partner with HHS and the Department of Education to protect our girls in Minnesota and across the country.”
The federal government says its agencies concluded in September 2025 that Minnesota had already violated Title IX. A resolution agreement was proposed. Minnesota declined it.
The DOJ complaint cites specific incidents, including a transgender-identifying male who has played on the Champlin Park High School girls’ varsity fastpitch softball team since 2023. Males have also competed on girls’ Alpine ski, Nordic ski, lacrosse, track and field, and volleyball teams across the state over the past several years.
The DOJ complaint states that “Minnesota prioritizes gender ideology over biological reality, which means boys claim championships, break records, and invade spaces that rightfully belong to girls.”
“In service of radical gender ideology, Minnesota’s actions violate Title IX and deny female athletes their hard-earned trophies, records, dignity, and safety,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General. “The Justice Department cannot ignore a state’s brazen defiance of federal anti-discrimination law.”
