WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Education announces an investigation into the Minnesota State High School League after it announced it will allow those to compete in sports based on their gender identity despite President Donald Trump’s executive order banning them from competing.
“It is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities,” and to take “all appropriate action to affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities and all-female locker rooms and thereby provide the equal opportunity guaranteed by Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972,” The Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports says.
“In Minnesota, participation and eligibility of transgender student-athletes is determined by state law, through the Minnesota Human Rights Act and the Minnesota Constitution. The Minnesota State High School League, similar to other youth sports organizations, is subject to state anti-discrimination laws, which prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. Therefore, students in Minnesota are allowed to participate consistent with their gender identity. League Member Schools have done excellent work in respecting students and their individual situations as they determine their participation and eligibility within interscholastic sports,” MSHSL said in a statement.
“The Minnesota State High School League is free to engage in all the meaningless virtue-signaling that they want, but at the end of the day they must abide by federal law,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. “OCR’s Chicago and San Francisco regional offices will conduct directed investigations into both organizations to ensure that female athletes in these states are treated with the dignity, respect, and equality that the Trump Administration demands. I would remind these organizations that history does not look kindly on entities and states that actively opposed the enforcement of federal civil rights laws that protect women and girls from discrimination and harassment.”
