The Department of Education (DOE) has told the University of Pennsylvania that it has violated its interpretation of Title IX by allowing transgender athletes to compete in its women’s athletic programs.
The DOE has given the university 10 days to ban trans athletes from women’s sports, to erase any of their competition records and awards, and to send apologetic letters to female athletes whose experiences have been “marred by sex discrimination,” The Hill reported.
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The DOE said it would refer the school to the so-called Department of Justice (DOJ) if it doesn’t comply with the DOE’s demand with its 10-day deadline.
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The university says it is currently following the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) ban on trans female athletes, the DOE’s initial announcement of its investigation specifically named Lia Thomas, a now-graduated trans female swimmer at the school who gained national attention for winning an NCAA Division I championship in the 500-yard freestyle race. Thomas also gained right-wing outrage after tying for fifth place with Riley Gaines, an opponent who has since capitalized on the tie, becoming a public face of the current president’s anti-trans crusade.
In February, the DOE launched investigations into two schools and an athletic association “where violations of Title IX have been reported”: the University of Pennsylvania and San Jose State University, and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA).
At San Jose State, trans volleyball player Blaire Fleming played three seasons on the women’s team from 2022 to 2024. As news of Fleming’s participation spread, five of SJSU’s opponents forfeited a total of eight matches during the 2024 season.
The probe targeting MIAA is based on a February 2024 incident in which players on a girls’ high school basketball team were allegedly injured by a trans player on the opposing team. The MIAA’s handbook allows trans athletes to compete on sports teams matching their gender identities.
This matter has never been about school sports or the protection of women and girls, as has been claimed, it is about states’ rights and defending the rule of law against a federal government bent on imposing its will, instead of upholding the law.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D)
Last Friday, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Maine over the state’s refusal to comply with the president’s ban on trans students participating in school sports. Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), as well as several state agencies, have stood strong in their defense of trans rights in the face of the administration’s attacks.
Two federal departments cut unrelated grants to Maine – for low-income kids’ food and for prisons – in order to pressure the state to cave on the issue. Maine sued the Department of Agriculture for withholding the grants for kids’ food. A judge recently ruled that the department illegally withheld the funds.
Democrats – including both Mills and the former Biden administration – interpret that to mean that trans students should be allowed to participate in school sports as their gender, that banning them from school sports because of their sex assigned at birth is denying them an equal education for a reason prohibited by Title IX.
“This matter has never been about school sports or the protection of women and girls, as has been claimed, it is about states’ rights and defending the rule of law against a federal government bent on imposing its will, instead of upholding the law,” Mills said in a statement.
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