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 sports participation based on gender identity violate the civil rights of female athletes, U.S. Education Department officials announced this week.
The investigations — which target 18 school districts and colleges nationwide — widen the Trump administration’s drive to end the participation of transgender athletes in women’s and girls’ sports.
The announcements came the same week that a majority of Supreme Court justices appeared ready to uphold the laws of two states that forbid transgender athletes from competition. But it wasn’t clear that they would stand in the way of states that chose instead to base participation on gender identity.
California requires K-12 school districts to base sports participation on gender identity and not an individual’s biological sex at birth.
In addition to the Community Colleges Athletic Assn., the Department of Education alsonamed the Jurupa Unified School District, the Placentia-Yorba Linda School District, Santa Monica College and Santa Rosa Junior College among the 18 targets nationwide.
The investigations were launched based on complaints submitted to the federal Office for Civil Rights, which is part of the department. The federal authorities allege that the schools and the association have violated Title IX, the department said in a statement. Title IX is a 1972 federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funding.
The complaints asserted that the schools “maintain policies or practices that discriminate on the basis of sex by permitting students to participate in sports based on their ‘gender identity,’ not biological sex. These policies jeopardize both the safety and the equal opportunities of women in educational programs and activities.” the statement said.
The California Community College Athletic Assn. said Thursday that it is aware of the investigation and “takes its obligations under Title IX seriously and is committed to providing equitable athletic opportunities for all student-athletes. The Association will fully cooperate with the review process.”
The other school districts and colleges could not be immediately reached for comment.
In the case of the Community College Athletic Assn., the department stated that it received a “staggering volume” of complaints, including one that detailed “discrimination against three female athletes … by allowing a male athlete to participate on the women’s volleyball team ” and ignored complaints from female athletes and allowed a transgender athlete access to locker facilities for women.
The Education Department did not specify which community college or colleges in the 116-campus system allegedly violated Title IX.
“Women’s sports are for women,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement referring the the community college investigation. “The Trump administration will not tolerate policies that erase women’s rights.”
Nearly a year ago, President Trump issued the executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” that sought to “prioritize” Title IX enforcement action.
The investigation targets a California Community Colleges Athletic Assn. rule that allows transgender females and nonbinary students to participate on women’s community college sports teams if the students have completed “at least one calendar year of testosterone suppression.”
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