As the Trump administration continues to fight states that allow transgender athletes to compete against girls, one of California’s largest school districts could be a new target for the administration.
Bullard High School in Fresno Unified had a transgender athlete compete on the girls lacrosse team this past season.
Driving the news: Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced that California violated Title IX for discriminating against women and girls by allowing transgender athletes to compete against them.
- Federal officials determined that the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) both violated Title X, an issue that came to the forefront locally in early June when a transgender athlete from Southern California won two state titles against females in the CIF track and field championships held in Clovis.
- The federal government launched investigations into the CIF and the California Department of Education earlier this year over the transgender issue. Current Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the former vice chair of the California Republican Party, was one of the driving figures behind the investigations.
Zoom in: A biological male student participated on the girls lacrosse team at Bullard this past year as a senior.
- The student, which The Sun is choosing not to name, identifies as a trans female on social media.
Why it matters: California schools have been offered a resolution to resolve the Title IX violations from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.
- Schools are required to prohibit males from participating in female sports and will have to adopt biology-based definitions of the words “male” and female.”
- The resolution also requires the California Department of Education to send a personalized letter to each female athlete apologizing on behalf of the State of California for allowing their educational experience to be marred by sex discrimination.
What we’re watching: The Federal government could pull California’s federal education funding if schools do not comply with the resolution.
- Fresno Unified did not return a request for comment by publication. The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment when asked about the prospect of further Title IX investigations into individual school districts.
