The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against California over violations of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act through its inclusion of transgender individuals in girls’ sports and locker rooms.
According to the filing, the California Department of Education (CDE) and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) have held to “discriminatory policies and practices” that “ignore undeniable biological differences between boys and girls” and instead favor “an amorphous ‘gender identity.'” As a result of the policies, girls are “displaced from podiums, denied awards, and miss out on critical visibility for college scholarships and recognition.”
The lawsuit asserts, “Despite Title IX’s equal opportunity mandate, Defendants have adopted and implemented policies that force girls to compete against boys—despite the real physiological differences between the sexes— if the boy asserts that he is a girl. And despite Title IX’s mandate, Defendants have adopted and implemented policies that allow boys to invade sensitive female-only spaces, endangering girls’ privacy, dignity, and safety and causing a hostile educational environment that denies girls educational opportunities.”
“The Governor of California has previously admitted that it is ‘deeply unfair’ to force women and girls to compete with men and boys in competitive sports,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “But not only is it ‘deeply unfair,’ it is also illegal under federal law. This Department of Justice will continue its fight to protect equal opportunities for women and girls in sports.”
The lawsuit follows the California Department of Education sending a letter to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), saying that it “respectfully disagrees with OCR’s analysis” on violations of Title IX.