The Trump administration is expanding its investigation into the participation of a transgender athlete in California
Federal officials have launched an investigation into the California Community Colleges Athletic Assn. and four other state colleges and school districts, alleging that their policies allowing participation in sports based on gender identity violate the civil rights of female athletes, US Department of Education officials announced this week.
The investigation — which targeted 18 school districts and colleges across the country — expands the Trump administration’s push to end the participation of transgender players in women’s and girls’ sports.
The announcements came in the same week that a majority of Supreme Court justices appeared ready to uphold two states’ laws banning transgender athletes from competition. But it was unclear whether they would stand in the way of states that chose to support gender identity inclusion.
California requires K-12 school districts to support sports participation in gender identification and not the individual’s gender at birth.
In addition to the Community Colleges Athletic Assn., the Department of Education also named Jurupa Unified School District, Placentia-Yorba Linda School District, Santa Monica College and Santa Rosa Junior College among 18 targets nationwide.
The investigation was initiated based on complaints sent to the Federal Office for Civil Rights, which is part of the department. Authorities suspect the schools and associations violated Title IX, the department said in a statement. Title IX is a 1972 federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in any federally funded educational or employment program.
The complaints asserted that schools “maintain policies or practices that discriminate on the basis of gender by allowing students to participate in sports based on their ‘gender identity,’ not their natural sex. These policies jeopardize both the safety and equal opportunities of women in educational programs and activities.” said the statement.
California Community College Athletic Assn. said Thursday that it is aware of the investigation and “takes seriously its obligations under Title IX and is committed to providing equal athletic opportunities to all student-athletes. The organization will fully cooperate with the review process.”
The other school districts and colleges could not be reached for comment.
In the case of the Community College Athletic Assn., the department said it received a “surprising number” of complaints, including one that detailed “the discrimination against three female athletes … by allowing a male athlete to participate on the women’s volleyball team” and ignored the female athletes’ complaints and allowed a transgender athlete access to the women’s locker rooms.
The Department of Education did not specify which community colleges or colleges in the 116-campus system are alleged to have violated Title IX.
“Women’s sports are for women,” Human Rights Watch Assistant Secretary Kimberly Richey said in a statement referring to the community college investigation. “The Trump administration will not tolerate policies that erase women’s rights.”
Almost a year ago, President Trump issued an executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which sought to “prioritize” enforcement of Title IX.
The investigation directed the California Community Colleges Athletic Assn. a law that allows transgender women and non-binary students to participate in women’s community college sports teams if students have completed “at least one calendar year of testosterone suppression.”
