The Trump administration isn’t resting in its quest to ban male-born athletes from girls’ scholastic sports.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon gave the 1,600+ schools that belong to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) until June 9 to “certify in writing” that they will not implement CIF Bylaw 300.D, or risk “legal liability.”
The bylaw on “gender identity participation” requires schools to allow students to compete in activities “in a manner consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records.”
The bylaw was approved to comply with a 2013 state law banning discrimination based on gender identity, but Ms. Dhillon said Bylaw 300.D violates the federal 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, which prohibits discrimination based on sex.
“Knowingly depriving female students of athletic opportunities and benefits on the basis of their sex would constitute unconstitutional sex discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause,” she said in the letter. “Scientific evidence shows that upsetting the historical status quo and forcing girls to compete against males would deprive them of athletic opportunities and benefits because of their sex.”
Cheering the department’s action was Sonja Shaw, Chino Valley Unified Board of Education president, who said it represents a “historic win.”
“Common sense is finally making a comeback,” she wrote on X. “And thank God we finally have a federal agency that isn’t weaponized against parents and our daughters, but is standing with us to protect basic rights.”
Today at work… put 1600+ California schools on blast for violating equal protection in girls’ sports. ⚽️ Day is still young. pic.twitter.com/5M0TAK5pjF
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) June 2, 2025
The demand letter comes 48 hours after Jurupa Valley High School junior A.B. Hernandez placed first in the girls’ high jump and triple jump, and second in the long jump, at the CIF state track-and-field championships, held Saturday in Clovis.
President Trump cited the transgender athlete’s participation in a post last week on Truth Social warning the state to comply with his Feb. 5 “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order or lose federal funding.
The federation revised its rules to award girls the medals and qualifying spots that they would have received had Hernandez not entered the meet.
“The CIF values all of our student-athletes and we will continue to uphold our mission of providing students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete while complying with California law and Education Code,” the federation said in a Wednesday statement.
Those changes represented a major concession by the state federation.
Even so, advocates for single-sex female sports were unappeased, accusing the federation of essentially acknowledging that the transgender athlete’s participation was unfair.
Last week, the Justice Department said it was joining the Department of Education investigation into whether California is violating Title IX, the federal civil-rights law banning sex discrimination in education.
