Trump administration sues Minnesota over transgender athlete policy, threatens federal funding
The Trump administration sued Minnesota and the Minnesota State High School League on Monday, alleging the state's policy allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls' sports violates federal law.
The lawsuit is part of a broader fight over the rights of transgender youth. More than two dozen states have laws prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports and some have barred gender-affirming surgeries for minors. Courts have blocked some of those policies.
In the lawsuit filed Monday, the Justice Department alleges the state Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League are violating Title IX, a federal law against sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal money.
"The Trump Administration does not tolerate flawed state policies that ignore biological reality and unfairly undermine girls on the playing field," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
League officials did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The administration has filed similar lawsuits against Maine and California, and has threatened the federal funding of some universities over transgender athletes, including San Jose State in California and the University of Pennsylvania.
Minnesota officials have long resisted the federal push to ban trans athletes from girls' sports. The state filed a preemptive lawsuit last April, saying Minnesota's human rights act supersedes executive orders issued by President Trump last year. The lawsuit also says the state is already in compliance with Title IX. A ruling is pending on the federal government's motion to dismiss that case.
The investigation began last February when the Minnesota State High School League announced it would not be following an executive order signed by Mr. Trump banning transgender girls and women from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity. The U.S. Department of Education elevated the investigation in June and HHS initiated a compliance review around the same time.
The Justice Department said in a statement that Minnesota violates Title IX "by requiring girls to compete against boys in athletic competitions that are designated exclusively for girls and allowing boys to invade intimate spaces designated exclusively for girls, such as multi-person locker rooms and bathrooms."
According to the Justice Department, Minnesota's Department of Education receives more than $3 billion annually in federal funding from the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. It says that funding is contingent on compliance with Title IX.
The lawsuit asks a federal court in Minnesota to declare the state in violation of Title IX and order it to prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls' prep sports.
The civil rights offices at the Education and Health and Human Services put the state and league on notice last September that they faced legal action if they didn't stop violating the federal law.
The Forest Lake School Board voted to send a letter to the state Department of Education, the Minnesota State High School League and the attorney general asking them to correct the violations and follow federal law immediately.
"Noncompliance with Title IX risks harming female students' rights, compromises school programs and funding, and will likely trigger federal enforcement actions that will negatively impact all students," said Board Chair Curt Rebelein, Jr., while summarizing the letter to other board members last fall.
School board members and school board candidates across Minnesota showed their "unwavering support for the full inclusion of transgender and nonbinary students in school athletics" in a letter to the state Department of Education, the Minnesota State High School League, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota lawmakers.
"Every student, including transgender and nonbinary students, deserves the opportunity to participate, belong and thrive in a welcoming and equitable environment," the letter, which was signed by 21 school board members and six school board candidates, said.
In response to the lawsuit, Ellison said, in part, "It is astonishing that any president would try to target, shame, and harass children just trying to be themselves, let alone a president with so many actual problems to address. In April of last year, I sued the Trump administration to stop them from targeting trans kids who just want to play on their school team. This new suit is just a sad attempt to get attention over something that's already been in litigation for months."