SACRAMENTO — The Trump administration escalated its ongoing clash with California this week, issuing an ultimatum that could strip the state of federal education funding unless it bans transgender girls from participating in girls’ high school sports. The move marks one of the most aggressive federal interventions yet in the national debate over transgender rights and public education.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Education announced that both the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) — the nonprofit governing body for high school sports in the state — are in violation of Title IX for allowing transgender students to compete in sports aligned with their gender identity.
In a formal notice, the department gave California just 10 days to come into compliance by banning transgender girls from girls’ sports teams, retroactively rescinding awards won by transgender athletes, and issuing personal apology letters to cisgender competitors.
The department said if California refuses to comply, the matter will be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice for enforcement, and federal education funding to the state could be revoked.
This move follows Trump’s executive order signed earlier this year banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports nationwide in programs receiving federal funds. The administration argues that allowing transgender girls to compete violates the protections against sex-based discrimination guaranteed by Title IX — a 1972 law originally enacted to ensure equal access to education for women and girls.
“The Trump Administration will relentlessly enforce Title IX protections for women and girls,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in a statement. “Our findings today make clear that California has failed to adhere to its obligations under federal law. The state must swiftly come into compliance with Title IX or face the consequences that follow.”
In response, the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom strongly rejected the administration’s demands and suggested the state does not intend to comply. “It wouldn’t be a day ending in ‘Y’ without the Trump Administration threatening to defund California,” said spokesperson Izzy Gardon. “Now Secretary McMahon is confusing government with her WrestleMania days — dramatic, fake, and completely divorced from reality. This won’t stick.”
California law currently permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletics, consistent with their gender identity, regardless of the gender listed on their school records. State officials say they are following existing California law and respecting students’ rights under state constitutional and civil rights protections.
“The California Department of Education believes all students should have the opportunity to learn and play at school,” said Liz Sanders, director of communications for the department. “We have consistently applied existing law in support of students’ rights to do so.”
Despite initially vowing to comply with state law, the California Interscholastic Federation abruptly altered its policies during the May 31 state track and field championships. The change applied only to the events in which AB Hernandez, a transgender girl from Jurupa Valley High School in Riverside County, had qualified. Hernandez shared first-place finishes with cisgender girls in the triple jump and high jump and a second-place finish in the long jump.
The Education Department has demanded that those placements be rescinded and that medals be awarded to the next-highest-finishing cisgender girls. It also insists that CIF and the California Department of Education send personal letters to those athletes, apologizing for allowing them to compete against a transgender student.
Civil rights advocates and LGBTQ+ organizations condemned the Trump administration’s directive, describing it as a legally questionable and discriminatory misuse of federal authority.
“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,” said Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. “Transgender youth belong in our schools, on our teams, and in our communities — without apology and without exception. We will not be bullied into erasing transgender youth from public life — not in California, not anywhere.”
Legal experts say the Education Department’s actions may run afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which ruled 6-3 that discrimination based on transgender status constitutes discrimination on the basis of sex. Though the ruling was issued in the context of employment law under Title VII, Justice Neil Gorsuch — writing for the majority — stated that “it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex.” Many legal scholars interpret this reasoning as applicable to other civil rights statutes, including Title IX.
While the Trump administration has rejected that interpretation, the legal status of Title IX as it applies to transgender athletes remains contested. Several federal courts have ruled that barring transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity is unlawful discrimination, while others have allowed such bans to proceed. The issue is expected to ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Trump administration has already filed a similar lawsuit against the state of Maine, and officials have signaled plans to sue Minnesota over comparable policies. California’s case may become the most high-profile legal battle yet, given the size of its student population and its vocal refusal to back down.
The Department of Education’s latest directive also aligns with other efforts by the Trump administration to restrict transgender rights more broadly. In addition to banning transgender military service members, the administration has sought to ban gender-affirming care for minors, redefined gender in federal policy as a fixed, biological category, and accused doctors who provide transition-related healthcare of engaging in “chemical and surgical mutilation.”
Critics argue these policies represent an effort to erase transgender people from public life and deny them equal access to public services. Advocacy groups say the current standoff over athletics is less about sports and more about setting a precedent for excluding trans individuals from public institutions.
As the deadline imposed by the federal government approaches, California’s leadership appears resolute in its stance.
“California will not be strong-armed into adopting discriminatory policies that violate our values and our laws,” said one senior education official who asked not to be named due to the pending legal dispute. “We will fight this — in court, in Congress, and in our communities.”
“In response, the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom strongly rejected the administration’s demands”
Though Gavin Newsom himself called trans athletes’ participation in women’s sports ‘deeply unfair’.
So which is it Gavin?
“Newsom says trans athletes’ participation in women’s sports is ‘deeply unfair’ ”
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-03-06/newsom-criticizes-trans-athletes-playing-in-womens-sports
You’re failing to consider the third and most likely possibility – his reaction is less about the issue and more about the encroachment by the federal government.
“his reaction is less about the issue and more about the encroachment by the federal government.”
So Newsom wants to keep a policy in place that he admits is deeply unfair rather than give in to the feds?
It’s a federalism argument.
I hope democrats keep up with this logic.
Newsom admits that men competing in women’s sports is deeply unfair but instead of giving in to the feds he’s going to keep this mysoginistic policy in place.
It’s going to be hard for him to rum for President with that kind of logic being that a vast majority of the country are on the side of the feds on this issue.
Good luck with that!
Newsom is basically a political opportunist who has shown moments of courage on rare occasion
So is this a moment of courage or a moment of stupidity on Newsom’s part being that he has already said men competing in women’s sports is deeply unfair?
I would also suggest that there are no more “Democrats” – which implies an organized party, acting in concert. Rather this is Newsom acting on his own, flailing to gain traction. The real danger however is that people like Newsom – who are traditional mainstream politicians will ultimately fail and the left will become as radicalized as the right under Trump. At that point, we will see the death knell of democracy. I know you hate the German reference, but remember under Weimar it was the social democrats who started as the strongest party, but by 1932, they had been replaced by Hindenberg, the Communists, and the Nazis and so ultimately there was not a majority for preserving democracy in Weimar – something Hitler took full advantage of. That’s the danger here (rather than the false comparison of Trump to genocidal Hitler).
Another example of Godwin’s Law.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
““It wouldn’t be a day ending in ‘Y’ without the Trump Administration threatening to defund California,” said spokesperson Izzy Gardon.”
Could be more a day ending in XY.
DG: “his reaction is less about the issue and more about the encroachment by the federal government.” & “It’s a federalism argument.”
DG, how do you feel about top-down housing quotas from the state to the cities?
OK, and the difference is . . . ….?
David says: “The real danger however is that people like Newsom – who are traditional mainstream politicians will ultimately fail and the left will become as radicalized as the right under Trump.”
Seems to me that this has already occurred. Even Biden’s administration was not as “mainstream” as I would have predicted.