California will not comply with a demand from the Trump administration to bar transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, officials with the state Department of Education announced Monday.
The decision follows a directive from U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who gave California a 10-day deadline starting June 27 to ban transgender girls from competing against cisgender girls and revoke any athletic awards they received, citing a federal finding that the state’s policies violated anti-discrimination laws.
“The CDE respectfully disagrees with OCR’s analysis, and it will not sign the proposed Resolution Agreement,” General Counsel Len Garfinkle wrote.
Since 2013, California has allowed student-athletes to use any facility and participate on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
McMahon responded to California’s decision with a post on X.
“California has just REJECTED our resolution agreement to follow federal law and keep men out of women’s sports. Turns out Gov. Newsom’s acknowledgment that ‘it’s an issue of fairness’ was empty political grandstanding. @CAgovernor, you’ll be hearing from @AGPamBondi,” the post said.
The post also alluded to comments made by Gov. Gavin Newsom on the debut episode of his podcast. Newsom, who has been a staunch supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, said he believes that transgender athletes participating in girls’ sports is “deeply unfair” – a comment McMahon referenced in her statement.
The latest back and forth between federal and state officials comes after President Donald Trump railed against 16-year-old AB Hernandez, a junior at Jurupa Valley High School, who won the girls’ long jump and triple jump events at the California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section Masters on May 24, qualifying for the state championships that took place May 30-31.
Hernandez went on to win two gold medals and a silver medal at the state track and field finals.
In May, the California Interscholastic Federation, a state organization that oversees high school sports, announced a change that aims to ensure all student-athletes have the ability to compete.
The new process would allow “any biological female student-athlete who would have earned the next qualifying mark for one of their Section’s automatic qualifying entries in the CIF State meet and did not achieve the CIF State at-large mark in the finals at their Section meet” to compete in the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships.
Back in February, Trump signed an executive order that states that “it is the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports” and threatens to “rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”
Trump has alluded to withholding federal funds from California over the issue. Newsom responded and raised the possibility of withholding California’s share of federal taxes.
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