DOE declares that Gavin Newsom’s California violated civil rights of female athletes

California’s progressive stance on transgender athletes in school sports has landed it in hot water with the federal government, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

The U.S. Department of Education has declared that California and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) are violating the civil rights of female students by allowing transgender athletes to compete based on gender identity, demanding policy changes within 10 days or face serious consequences like loss of federal funding.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation into the CIF, which governs sports at over 1,500 high schools, over its policy aligning competition with gender identity rather than biological sex.

By May 2025, the Department of Justice joined the fray, probing whether California, the CIF, and Jurupa Unified School District were sidelining female athletes’ rights with these inclusive rules.

Early in June 2025, the Justice Department issued a stern warning to school districts, hinting at “legal liability” if transgender athletes weren’t barred from competing, a move that raised eyebrows across the state.

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond pushed back hard, sending a letter to districts asserting that the federal warning held no legal weight and urging compliance with state laws that protect transgender participation.

State and Federal Laws Clash

California’s education code, unchanged since 2013, explicitly allows students to join sports teams and use facilities matching their gender identity, a policy shared by nearly two dozen states but now under fierce federal scrutiny.

Title IX, the 1972 federal law banning sex-based discrimination in education programs with federal funding, is at the heart of this battle, with the Trump administration insisting it must be interpreted through a strict biological lens.

On the first day of his 2025 term, President Trump signed an executive order recognizing only two sexes, male and female, a policy now driving federal enforcement across departments.

Governor Gavin Newsom, despite admitting on a podcast with Charlie Kirk that transgender participation in women’s sports can be “deeply unfair,” has stood by state law, drawing a sharp rebuke from federal officials.

“Although Governor Newsom admitted months ago it was ‘deeply unfair,’ both the California Department of Education and the CIF continued to allow men to steal female athletes’ well-deserved accolades,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, a statement that cuts to the core of conservative frustration with progressive overreach.

Let’s be clear: fairness in competition isn’t just a slogan; it’s a principle many feel is being eroded when biological differences are ignored in the name of inclusion.

Proposed Fixes and Ongoing Battles

The Department of Education’s proposed “Resolution Agreement” demands that California notify all federal funding recipients to align with a biology-based interpretation of Title IX, including barring males from female sports and facilities, and even rescinding past guidance that conflicts.

Meanwhile, the CIF’s attempt to address concerns—duplicating awards in events won by transgender athletes, as seen at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships—has been dismissed by the administration as insufficient, leaving the state in a precarious spot as potential funding cuts loom.

“It wouldn’t be a day ending in ‘Y’ without the Trump Administration threatening to defund California,” quipped Izzy Gardon, spokesman for Newsom, a snarky jab that sidesteps the real issue of balancing fairness with inclusion—a tightrope California seems determined to walk, even as federal patience wears thin.