The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into whether California, its Interstatistical Sports Federation, and the Yurupa Unified School District are violating the civil rights of cisgender girls by allowing transgender students to compete in school sports.
The Justice Department is also throwing support behind a pending lawsuit alleging similar violations of girls’ rights in the Riverside Unified School District, U.S. Atty said. Bill Essayri, who oversees much of the Los Angeles area and oversees assistant Atty. General Hermet Dillon leads the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
Transgender track athletes have been under intense scrutiny in both Julpa Valley and Riverside in recent months, with anti-LGBTQ+ activists attacking them on social media and screaming against the competition in schools.
The Californian essays and Dillon, appointed under President Trump, have long fought against the state’s transgender rights. Their announcement comes a day after Trump threatened to withhold federal funds from California by enabling transgender youth to participate in sports.
The legal action is just the latest attempt by the Trump administration to reduce transgender rights across the country, including bringing the fight to California, which has the nation’s largest strange population and some of its most robust LGBTQ+ legal protections.
Trump appeared to refer to his threat on Tuesday and the recent success of a 16-year-old transgender track athlete at Yurupa Valley High School, named Abu Hernandez. Trump falsely suggested that Hernandez had won “all” in a recent tournament.
In a comment to The Times Wednesday, Hernandez’s mother, Nereida Hernandez, said her child was attacked “just who they are” and was heartbreaking despite following all California laws and competition policies.
“My child is a trans student-athlete, a hardworking, disciplined, passionate young man who wants to play sports, continue to build friendships and grow to his full potential like other children,” the mother said.
The mother of another transgender high school track athlete in Riverside County, who is currently in the subject of a pending lawsuit supported by the Department of Justice, declined to comment Wednesday.
The Department of Justice said it sent a letter of legal notice to Atty, California. General Rob Bonta, state supt. Public leader Tony Thurmond, inter-California governing federation, Yulpa unification.
The U.S. Department of Education announced earlier in February that it was investigating CIFs to enable trans athletes to compete. Dillon said the two federal departments will coordinate the investigation.
Bonta defended state laws protecting transgender youth, students and athletes, and advised the state school systems and other agencies, including hospitals, in the face of various Trump enforcement orders aimed at reducing Transgender youth rights and health care rights. On Wednesday, his office said it was “committed to defending and supporting California law.”
Scott Roark, a spokesman for the California Department of Education, said his agency could not comment. Jacquie Paul, a spokesman for Jurupa Unified, said the school system had not received the letter on Wednesday, and that he could not comment “no further information.” A spokesman for the Riverside Unified School District also declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuit.
“We value all student-athletes and continue to support our mission to provide students with the opportunity to belong, connect and compete while adhering to California law and education codes,” the CIF said in a statement.
However, the Sports Federation has also changed the rules for the 2025 CIF State Athletics Championships. The cisgender girl who bumped into from the event final qualifying by transgender athletes said she would be allowed to compete and also awarded a medal for a place where transgender athletes claim they are not competing.
The change has brought new criticism from supporters on both sides of the political issue, including Sonja Shaw, chairman of the Chino Valley Unified Education Board. Shaw is a Trump supporter running for state school supervision, challenging statewide Pro-LGBTQ+ laws and supporting the latest investigation. She said in making the changes, the CIF “confirmed” the girl was “defeated from her sport.”
Dillon examines her office’s “patterns or practices” whether California law and CIF policies violate Title IX.
Title IX has been used in the past to win the rights of trans people, but the Trump administration has taken a surprisingly different view of the law.
Dillon said the law “exist to protect women and girls in education,” saying “it is evil to allow men to compete with girls, invade private spaces and take trophies,” and that her department “proactively defends women’s hard-fought rights.”
The essay said in a statement that his office “work tirelessly to protect girls’ sports and stop people violating women’s civil rights.”
LGBTQ+ supporters, California’s civic institutions, and many democratic lawmakers in the state have denounced the framing of including transgender in sports in order to reduce the rights of women and girls and make Trump and other Republicans who attacked about 1% of the US population a simple and vulnerable political target.
Kristi Hirst, co-founder of the public education advocacy group, said the Justice Department’s actions would amount to “bullying minors and using taxpayer resources to do so,” and “will assert that all children own civil rights and protecting the students targeted today.”
The “Pattern or Practice” survey is the second survey that Dillon’s office launched in the LA area in a few months. It is also investigating Los Angeles County for the process of issuing gun permits.
Another essay’s decision to support a riverside lawsuit adds another wrinkle to an already complicated case.
Group Save Girls Sports is appealing for the inclusion of trans athletes in their women’s track meetings in October. This claims they unfairly slammed a cisgender girl out of competition, and high school officials say students say, “It’s common sense. [does not equal] xy, a reference to the various chromosomal combinations of biological females and males.
Julianne Fleischer, a lawyer for faith and freedom advocates who represents Save Girls’ Sports, said the decision to weigh the essay on behalf of the group was welcomed.
“This case has always been about common sense, fairness and the obvious meaning of the law,” Fleischer said in a statement. “Girls’ sports were never a social experiment. They exist so that girls can win, lead and thrive in equal arenas.”
It was unclear how the essay interest would affect this case.
The state and school districts are asking for the lawsuit to be dismissed. A hearing is scheduled for next month.
Essaylie, a former state legislator in Riverside County, partially cited the name of politics by attacking California’s liberal majority’s “awakening” policies in Sacramento. Shortly before he was appointed US lawyer last month, other California lawmakers blocked the bill he introduced.
Hernandez, the mother of the targeted Julpa Valley athlete, asked Trump to reconsider, saying that Trump and other officials were bullying his child by “weaponizing misinformation and fear instead of accepting truth, compassion and respect.”
“We respectfully request that you open your heart and heart to learn about the LGBTQ+ community,” she said.
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