The U.S. Department of Justice has ratcheted efforts to stop trans athletes from competing in school sports in California.
The new warning follows a similar threat to the state-to-California governing federations by the Trump administration. Also, Ab Hernandez, a 16-year-old transgender junior at Julpa Valley High School, is not allowed to compete despite instructions from President Trump after winning multiple medals at the state high school track and field championships on Saturday.
Assistant Atty. General Hermet Dillon, a conservative California lawyer focused on challenging LGBTQ+ priority state law before being appointed by Trump to lead the Department of Justice’s civil rights division, was written in a letter Monday to school districts that continue to comply with CIF rules that allow transgender athletes to compete.
To “avoid liability” for such violations, districts wrote by June 9 that they must “certify in writing” that they will not comply with federal rules and will not ban transgender athletes from competition.
Dillon said on social media platform X that her office “placed more than 1,600 California schools in the explosion for violating equal protections in women’s sports.”
Dillon’s letter made no mention of changes to the CIF rules last week. After Trump threatened to cancel federal funds from California if Hernandez competed in the state championships. This change allowed us to compete anyway from the event final qualifying rounds by trans athletes. He also ensured that cisgender girls would be awarded medals in every race, regardless of how Hernandez was placed.
Although this policy was intended as a compromise, it gained little support from people with a conservative right to demand a complete ban on trans athletes.
In addition to the threat of Trump’s fundraising, Dillon’s office announced last week that it would begin investigating the states, Scholastic Federations and Jurupa Unified School District, where Hernandez competes.
A spokesman for California Atty. General Rob Bonta’s office said “we are extremely concerned with the Trump administration’s ongoing threat to California schools and continue to be committed to defending and supporting California law and all additional laws that ensure that the rights of students, including transgender students, are free from discrimination and harassment.”
The office “had reviewed the letters and closely monitored the Trump administration’s actions in this area,” the spokesperson said.
Elizabeth Sanders, a spokesman for the California Department of Education, said the agency did not comment on Dillon’s letter on Monday, but was “prepared to send guidance” to the district on Tuesday. She said California Saputo. Public coach Tony Thurmond also did not respond on Monday.
The Los Angeles Unified School District declined to comment. Other local districts around LA did not respond to requests for comment.
LGBTQ+ supporters criticize Dillon’s letter, calling it the latest evidence that the Trump administration is interested in transgender children earning political points, rather than actually protecting cisgender athletes.
Shannon Minter, vice president of legal affairs at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, helps draft the original Scholastic Federal rules that allow transgender athletes to compete, as well as new rules that ensure that both trans and cisgender athletes compete.
For example, at last weekend’s competition, Hernandez’s competition never pushed cisgender girls out of the competition.
Hernandez won gold in both the girls’ triple jump and the girls’ high jump, finishing second in the girls’ long jump, but was not alone in any of those spots.
For a triple jump, she was also standing on the podium with a cisgender girl who was given money. For the high jump, she shared the podium with two cisgender girls she tied up. For the long jump, she shared the second place podium with a cisgender girl who was awarded silver.
The new rules “confirm that people have concerns about taking away opportunities from non-trans girls and that can’t happen. It literally eliminates that concern entirely,” Minter said.
By ignoring the new rules, Dillon’s letter states, “We already know what we already know: this administration is not at all concerned about protecting girls’ athletic opportunities. This is a bias against transgender people – pure and simple.”
Meanwhile, critics of young transgender people taking part in the sport cheered Dillon’s letter as a big victory.
Sofia Lowry, the conservative California Family Council outreach director, said it was “huge.” Loray was kicked out of the national championship on Saturday.
“Here gooooo!” Lorey writes to X:
At least a few California school districts with conservative, elected leaders are keen to follow the new directive.
On April 17, the Chino Valley Unified Education Board unanimously approved a resolution entitled “Support Title IX and the Fairness of Girls’ Governing Sports.” The resolution stated that “biological differences between male and female athletes can create benefits unique to competitive sports, particularly designated categories for girls.”
The school system called on state governing bodies to support the protection of girls in sports under Title IX. This is the 1972 Federal Civil Rights Act that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funds.
In April, the school system was Gav. Gavin Newsom, California Department of Education, Thurmond and the Federation of Interstate Generations, filed a Title IX complaint with the Federal Department of Justice.
The complaint said Chino Valley was “now caught between conflicting states and federal directives,” demanding “urgent federal intervention.”
Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified Education Board, wrote to X that Dillon’s letter was a “historical victory” for parents, daughters, nation, and “truth.”
“We don’t bend. We don’t compromise. Our daughters will protect us at any cost,” wrote Shaw, who is running for public leadership. “The tides are changing. The silence is broken. And we’re just starting out.”
Shaw also suggested that support from the Trump administration could encourage her school system to take more positive action.
“We’re moving forward with this issue at the next board meeting,” Shaw said. “We will not follow the insanity. We will not be bullied by silence. We will not betray our girls to please the extremists.”
Hernandez’s mother, Nereida Hernandez, was unable to reach Monday, but previously said the child was attacked for “simply who they are,” and was heartbreaking despite following all California laws and competition policies.
She asked Trump to reconsider his efforts to drive trans girls out of the sport.
“My kids are trans student-athletes, hardworking, disciplined, passionate young people who just want to play sports, continue to build friendships and grow to their full potential like other children,” she said.
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