Trump administration says California must bar trans girls from girls
sports
[June 26, 2025]
By SOPHIE AUSTIN
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Trump administration said Wednesday that
California must change its policies allowing transgender girls to
compete on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
The U.S. Department of Education said it determined California's
education department and governing body for high school sports are
violating Title IX, a federal law banning sex discrimination in
education. The federal government said California must agree to change
its policies in 10 days or “risk imminent enforcement action." The
administration could otherwise refer the state to the U.S. Justice
Department, the Education Department said.
California, though, said it has no plans to change its policies.
“The California Department of Education believes all students should
have the opportunity to learn and play at school, and we have
consistently applied existing law in support of students’ rights to do
so,” agency spokesperson Liz Sanders said in a statement.
U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon invoked Democratic Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s remarks on his podcast in March questioning the fairness of
trans girls competing in girls sports.
“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,” she said in
a statement.
She told Fox News the agency may pull federal funding if the state does
not comply. The Education Department said the state should apologize and
restore awards to girls who lost sports titles to trans athletes, and
notify school sports programs that receive federal funding that Title IX
prohibits trans girls from participating in girls sports.
The announcement comes weeks after a trans student athlete garnered
national attention over her participation in the California high school
state track and field championship. The student, AB Hernandez, placed
first in the girls high jump and triple jump, and second in the long
jump. The California Interscholastic Federation, which ran the meet,
awarded gold and silver medals to both Hernandez and other competitors
who would have placed had she not participated. It was the first time
the federation made such a rule change.
Part of a nationwide battle
The issue is part of a nationwide battle over the rights of transgender
youth in which states have limited transgender girls from participating
on girls sports teams, barred gender-affirming surgeries for minors and
required parents to be notified if a child changes their pronouns at
school. At least two dozen states have laws barring transgender women
and girls from participating in certain sports competitions. Some of the
policies have been blocked in court.
“This really isn't about sports and locker rooms. This is about erasing
transgender individuals altogether," said Trevor Norcross, the father of
a trans student-athlete in San Luis Obispo County. "Focusing on sports
and locker rooms is just a path to get people used to discriminating
against transgender youth.”
Norcross' daughter, who will be a high school junior in the fall, has
been on the girls track team since she was a freshman. She has received
backlash over her participation in recent months, but mainly from
parents and advocates outside of the school community, Norcross said.
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AB Hernandez, center left, shares the first-place spot on the podium
with Kira Gant Hatcher during a medal ceremony for the triple jump
at the California high school track-and-field championships in
Clovis, Calif., May 31, 2025. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle
via AP, file)
He said the U.S. Education Department's announcement Wednesday was
yet another act of “bullying by the administration.”
Trump signed an executive order in February aimed at banning trans
women and girls from participating on sports teams that align with
their gender identity.
But a California law, signed in 2013 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown,
allows students to participate in sex-segregated school programs,
including on sports teams, and use bathrooms and other facilities
that align with their gender identity.
Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said McMahon’s threat to pull
federal funding over the state’s policy was “dramatic, fake, and
completely divorced from reality.” The governor's office said the
U.S. Education Department's letter was not “a serious legal
document” but “a political document designed to intimidate school
officials and unlawfully override well-established state laws
protecting students.”
The California Interscholastic Federation declined to respond to the
announcement, saying it does not comment on legal matters.
The federation is violating the U.S. Constitution by allowing trans
girls to compete in sex-segregated sports consistent with their
gender identity, said Harmeet Dhillon, U.S. assistant attorney
general for civil rights, in a letter after the state track and
field finals.
Groups split over federal government's findings
The California Family Council, a conservative group that opposes
trans girls' competition in girls sports, applauded the federal
government's findings Wednesday.
“This decision is a critical step toward restoring fairness and
protecting the integrity of girls’ sports in our state," Sophia
Lorey, an advocate for the group, said in a statement.
But Equality California, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, said the
findings were a “dangerous distortion of Title IX and a direct
attack on transgender youth in California.”
“Let’s be clear: this isn’t about fairness in sports and never has
been — it’s about a federal administration weaponizing civil rights
laws to target transgender students and force California to comply
with their hateful anti-transgender agenda,” Tony Hoang, the group's
executive director, said in a statement.
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