Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks with protesters against transgender athletes competing in women’s sports outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
The Department of Education opened investigations into 15 K-12 schools over allegedly allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls’ and women’s sports.
The department announced the investigations on Wednesday, along with investigations into one university and New York and Hawaii’s education departments. The K-12 investigations target school districts in California, Connecticut, Maine, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington.
The Trump administration has pursued blocking transgender athletes from being involved in girls’ and women’s athletic programs, beginning with an executive order within weeks of taking office last year.
The executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” orders the Education Department to penalize schools for allowing transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports. Penalties may include rescission of all federal funding.
The Trump administration claims that allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports is a Title IX violation.
“Time and time again, the Trump administration has made its position clear: violations of women’s rights, dignity and fairness are unacceptable,” Kimberly Richey, assistant education secretary in the Office for Civil Rights, said in a statement.
The announcement comes the day after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments over two transgender athletes challenging state laws barring them from participating in girls’ and women’s sports in Idaho and West Virginia.
This week in Washington
Left, to right, Greenland Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Motzfeldt, Denmark Minister for Foreign Affairs Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, meet in the office of Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, for a meeting with members of the Senate Arctic Caucus in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday. President Donald Trump maintains that he wants the United States to control Greenland. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
