Just hours after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for transgender athletes to be banned from school sports, officials at the Department of Education launched investigations into two schools and an athletic association “where violations of Title IX have been reported.”  

Last week, the DOE reversed a Biden-era rule interpreting Title IX discrimination protections to include transgender school athletes. The notice referred to Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies to recognize only two “immutable” sexes, male and female.

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The alleged “violations” being investigated by DOE’s Office of Civil Rights are at schools where participation of trans athletes plunged their athletic programs into chaos after some teammates objected and right-wing media took up their cause.

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“President Trump’s Executive Order ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’ is a promise to women and girls: This administration will not tolerate the mistreatment of female athletes,” the department said in a statement first released to Fox News.

The probe targets San Jose State University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) for separate incidents involving trans athletes competing on a women’s or girls’ sports team — under Biden-era rules. 

At UPenn, transgender swimmer Lia Thomas competed on the women’s swim team after previously swimming on the school’s men’s team. She broke multiple records and spawned the rise of anti-trans activist Riley Gaines, a University of Kentucky swimmer who tied for fifth place with Thomas at an NCAA meet. Thomas went on to break multiple records, winning several events at the 2022 Ivy League championships and NCAA championships. 

At San Jose State, transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming played three seasons on the women’s team from 2022-24. As word spread in 2024 that a trans player was on the team, five of SJSU’s opponents forfeited a total of eight matches. Team co-captain Brooke Slusser filed a lawsuit alleging the team’s coach deceived her into sharing a room with Fleming, whom she thought was cisgender. Slusser also alleged Fleming conspired with an opponent on another team to have Slusser spiked in the face during a match on October 3. 

The probe targeting Massachusetts’ student athletic association is based on an incident from February 2024 when players on a girls’ high school basketball team were allegedly injured by a trans player on the opposing team. The MIAA’s handbook states a “student shall not be excluded from participation on a gender-specific sports team that is consistent with the student’s bona fide gender identity.”

Following Trump’s pledge in the 2024 presidential campaign to gut the Department of Education and leave it with just “a secretary for the secretary,” the administration has floated off-the-record plans to shut it down ever since since Trump took office. They claim that move awaits Education Secretary nominee Linda McMahon’s confirmation by the Senate, which has yet to be scheduled.

Instead, the administration has used the time to weaponize the department in pursuit of Trump’s anti-trans agenda.

Last week, DOE’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) launched a probe of Denver Public Schools for converting a girl’s restroom in the district to one accommodating all genders, also citing Title IX, the same tool used by the Biden administration to pursue LGBTQ+-inclusivity.

Announcing that investigation, the department’s activist acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said, “Let me be clear: It is a new day in America, and under President Trump, OCR will not tolerate discrimination of any kind.”

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