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The California Department of Education (CDE) and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) violated Title IX by discriminating against women and girls, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found through an investigation, it announced June 25.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Feb. 5 regarding Title IX. In it, he directed the Secretary of Education to “prioritize Title IX enforcement actions against educational institutions (including athletic associations composed of or governed by such institutions) that deny female students an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them, in the women’s category, to compete with or against or to appear unclothed before males.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) began investigating the CIF after the news outlet published the CIF’s statement that it “provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law [Education Code section 221.5. (f)] which permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, consistent with the student’s gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records.”
The DOE said in a press release Feb. 25 that the OCR opened its investigation of CIF Feb. 12 and in May, the investigation was elevated to the Title IX Special Investigations Team, which includes personnel from both the DOE and the Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOE and the DOJ announced April 4 that they were investigating the CDE’s actions regarding protecting women’s and girls’ sports, according to the release.
“The Trump Administration and the Department of Education have prioritized protecting female athletes from the unfair competition, unsafe situations, and the indignities involved when male athletes compete in athletic competitions designated for girls,” the DOE said in a June 25 press release. “Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 requires schools to ensure equal opportunities for girls, including in athletic activities, but California has actively prevented this equality of opportunity by allowing males in girls’ sports and intimate spaces.”
Linda McMahon, the US secretary of education, said in the release that the findings “make clear that California has failed to adhere to its obligations under federal law.”
“Although Governor Gavin Newsom admitted months ago it was ‘deeply unfair’ to allow men to compete in women’s sports, both the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation continued as recently as a few weeks ago to allow men to steal female athletes’ well-deserved accolades and to subject them to the indignity of unfair and unsafe competitions,” McMahon said.
Within 10 days, the CDE and the CIF must either change those practices, she said. Otherwise, it risks “imminent enforcement action, including referral to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for proceedings,” according to McMahon.
The OCR is demanding the following:
- The CDE notifies all federal funding recipients operating interscholastic athletic programs in the state that they’re required to comply with Title IX. The notice must specify that Title IX and the regulations that carry it out forbid schools from allowing males from participating in female sports and from being in females’ intimate facilities. The recipients also need to adopt “biology-based definitions of the words ‘male’ and ‘female.’”
- The CDE tells the program operators that federal law will supersede any conflicting interpretation of California state law.
- The CDE and CIF drop any guidance that advised school districts or CIF members to allow male athletes to participate in women’s and girls’ sports.
- The CDE requires both the CIF and all program operators “to restore to female athletes all individual records, titles, and awards misappropriated by male athletes competing in female competitions” — and apologize on the state’s behalf to each girl or woman “for allowing her educational experience to be marred by sex discrimination.”
- The CDE requires every program operator and the CIF to annually certify that it has complied with Title IX, and the CDE proposes to OCR a plan to ensure that program operators are fully complying with TItle IX.
The DOE is recognizing June as Title IX month in honor of the 53rd anniversary of the bill becoming law.
“June is now dedicated to commemorating women’s continued push for equal educational and athletic opportunity,” the release said.
As CatholicVote previously reported, the Supreme Court on June 18 upheld a Tennessee law that protected children from undergoing certain procedures for gender dysphoria. The court also decided that regulating medical procedures need only be reviewed rationally instead of being scrutinized under the Equal Protection Clause.