The Department of Education, under Secretary Linda McMahon, on Tuesday declared that Minnesota had violated Title IX by allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s and girls’ sports. File Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
The Trump administration on Tuesday declared that Minnesota’s policies allowing transgender athletes to play on teams that match with their gender identity violated federal law, marking the latest escalation in a feud between the federal government and the Democratic-led state.
The ruling from the civil rights offices of the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services gives Minnesota 10 days to adopt a slew of actions, including abandoning its transgender-inclusive athletic policies, or risk federal funding cuts.
“Minnesota permits male athletes to compete in sports designated for females, which denies females equal opportunities under Title IX that they deserve in athletic competition,” HHS’ OCR Director Paula Stannard said in a statement.
“Minnesota fails to recognize the fundamental biological differences between males and females — differences that justify single-sex teams and are essential to ensuring fair and safe competition for girls and women.”
Minnesota, led by Trump rival Gov. Tim Walz, has been a target of the Trump administration, and has been subjected to numerous federal actions over its so-called left-leaning policies, including its inclusive hiring practices and providing higher education tuition benefits to some undocumented immigrants.
On Tuesday, Trump’s Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Minnesota’s so-called sanctuary immigration policies.
The civil rights investigation into Minnesota was launched in February, about a week after Trump issued an executive order to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports, calling it “demeaning, unfair and dangerous to women and girls.”
In June, following reports of a transgender teenage athlete who competed in the girls’ Minnesota State High School League, the federal government elevated its civil rights investigation into the state.
In its joint report Tuesday, the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services said that they found that over the course of several years the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League had allowed transgender female athletes to compete on girls’ Alpine ski, Nordic skiing, lacrosse, track and field, volleyball and fast-pitch softball teams.
The departments said this was in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which is federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.
“For too many years, Minnesota’s political leadership has found itself on the wrong side of justice, common sense and the American people,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education, said in a statement.
“Now, the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League find themselves on the wrong side of Title IX by allowing males to compete in women’s sports.”
UPI has contacted the Minnesota Department of Education for comment.
Transgender athletes competing in sports that align with their gender identity have been a target of conservatives and Republicans for years, an effort that gained a supporter in the White House following the election of President Donald Trump, who ran an anti-transgender campaign.
Proponents of the ban argue that allowing transgender females in girls’ and women’s sports gives them an unfair advantage while being discriminatory to athletes who were born female. Critics, meanwhile, contend that the science does not support claims that transgender girls have an unfair advantage, that this is a non-issue given how few transgender athletes there are, and argue that transgender athletes have the right to compete alongside their peers.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has also voiced support for transgender athletes participating in sports competitions that align with their gender identity, stating it “helps youth develop self-esteem, correlates positively with overall mental health, and appears to have a protective effect against suicide.”
