California stands up to Trump & refuses to kick trans kids out of school sports
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/07/california-stands-up-to-refuses-to-kick-trans-kids-out-of-school-sports/
John Russell (8 July 2025)
The California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) have refused to comply with the Trump administration's demand that the state ban transgender women and girls from participating in school sports that align with their gender identity.
In a communication dated July 6, California Department of Education (CDE) general counsel Len Garfinkel wrote that the agency "respectfully disagrees with" the findings of an investigation by the U.S. Office of Civil Rights (OCR) which found that the state was in violation of federal law by allowing trans student athletes to compete against and alongside cisgender women and girls.
Garfinkel wrote that the CDE would not sign a proposed resolution agreement mandated by the OCR. As the L.A. Times reported, the proposed resolution would have required the state to notify all federally funded schools that they must ban trans women and girls from women's and girls' sports programs in compliance with the Trump administration's interpretation of Title IX, the federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in education.
As the L.A. Times notes, California is one of nearly two dozen states with laws allowing trans students to participate in sports that align with their gender identity. Meanwhile, according to the Movement Advancement Project, 27 states have enacted laws banning trans women and girls from women's and girls' sports.