The U.S. Attorney for the Los Angeles area has launched a Title IX investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and Jurupa Unified School District for allowing a transgender athlete to compete against girls.
U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli announced the investigation on Wednesday, one day after President Donald Trump threatened to pull federal funding from the state over the issue.
Driving the news: Trump threatened to pull federal funding from California on Tuesday because Southern California student AB Hernandez, a biological male, will be competing against girls in the CIF State Track and Field Championships this weekend in Clovis.
- The CIF responded by launching a pilot rule to allow female student-athletes who would have earned the next qualifying spot to compete in the championships.
The big picture: Essayli and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon launched a joint investigation on Wednesday and also filed a statement of interest in an ongoing lawsuit against Riverside Unified School District in a case where a biological male replaced a girl on a cross country team.
- The investigation joins an ongoing investigation that was launched in February by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to see if the CIF has violated Title IX.
Go deeper: Dhillon wrote a letter to CIF Executive Director Ronald Nocetti, saying the Department of Justice has found reasonable cause to believe that the CIF is engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination against female athletes.
- She pointed to California high schools allowing males to participate in girls’ athletics, which deprives girls from equal athletic opportunities.
What she’s saying: “As a result of CIF’s policy, California’s top-ranked girls’ triple jumper, and second-ranked girls’ long jumper, is a boy,” Dhillon wrote. “As recently as May 17, this male athlete was allowed to take winning titles that rightfully belong to female athletes in both events. The male athlete will now be allowed to compete against those female athletes again for a state title in long, triple, and high jump. Other high school female athletes have alleged that they were likewise robbed of podium positions and spots on their teams after they were forced to compete against males. Even California Governor Gavin Newsom has acknowledged that this practice is ‘deeply unfair’ to girls and young women.”
