Latest news with #transgenderSports
Fox News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Trump admin suing California over alleged Title IX violations
The Trump administration on Wednesday announced it will sue the California Department of Education (CDE) and California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) over alleged Title IX violations. The administration is asking for an injunction on the state's policy to allow males from competing in females sports – an issue that reached a fever pitch earlier this year when a transgender athlete won multiple events in girls' track and field competitions. The U.S. Education Department recently found California in violation of Title IX. Fox News Digital reached out to the CDE and CIF for comment. This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Fox News
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Sec McMahon opens up on historic UPenn Title IX agreement and next steps in fight to save women's sports
U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon unveiled arguably the biggest step yet in President Donald Trump's mission to combat trans inclusion in women's sports on Tuesday. The announcement that the University of Pennsylvania had come to a resolution with the administration over its handling of the Lia Thomas situation years ago closed a controversy that ignited a cultural debate when Thomas competed in the NCAA women's swimming championship in 2022. The Thomas saga at the 2022 NCAA championships is largely considered a cultural turning point in the national debate over transgender athletes in women's sports. At the time, current prominent conservative activist Riley Gaines was just a dental student who had to settle for a tie with Thomas in one of the NCAA championship events. McMahon followed the situation through the news that year. "The first thing when I looked and saw the difference in size between Riley Gaines and Lia Thomas, I said, 'oh my gosh, this is just totally unfair,'" McMahon told Fox News Digital, recalling when Gaines infamously tied Thomas in that year's competition. "To think, given all that, she tied, which is amazing, but it was just totally unfair. She should have walked away with that, coming in clearly for the fifth place, and that just didn't happen." McMahon said she hopes that Tuesday's announcement sends a message to other girls in high school and college across the country. "I think those girls, hopefully they will look at Riley and Paula [Scanlan] and others as real role models and give them the strength to stand up," McMahon said. The department previously launched an investigation into UPenn on Feb. 6. The Trump administration later froze $175 million in funding for the school on March 20. Then, on April 28, the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights announced its investigation concluded that UPenn did violate Title IX in its handling of the Thomas situation. Now, UPenn has agreed to implement a strict policy keeping trans athletes out of women's sports and issue apologies to all the women who have been impacted. However, McMahon's work doesn't end with UPenn. The Department of Education and other branches of Trump's administration are fighting the issue on multiple fronts, with an active lawsuit against the state of Maine for refusing to comply with Trump's mandate on the issue. The administration is also in a standoff with California and Minnesota over the issue, as well as those states that have aggressively defied Trump's mandate on the issue. McMahon hopes UPenn's agreement sends a message to those states. "Our sincere hope is that they absolutely recognize what they're going to have to do relative to comply with Title IX. It is the law," McMahon said. "There are federal funds that have been withheld and withdrawn, so there's penalties involved in this. But it's actually just the right thing to do, it's common sense to do, that men should not compete in women's sports." On the same day that McMahon's department announced its investigation against UPenn, it also announced an investigation against San Jose State University for its handling of former transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming. The situation involving Fleming culminated in a nationally-publicized scandal in the 2024 fall season, which included multiple lawsuits by San Jose State and other Mountain West volleyball players. Recently, Fox News Digital reported that the Mountain West Conference hired the same law firm to investigate the trans athlete's misconduct allegations that the conference was using to defend the athlete's eligibility for the conference tournament in court. Fox News Digital reported on June 24 that the Mountain West had hired the firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher to investigate allegations against Fleming of conspiring with an opponent to have teammate Brooke Slusser harmed during an Oct. 3 game. Mountain West hired the firm to handle the investigation in the same month that the same firm represented the conference to protect Fleming's eligibility in a request for a preliminary injunction to have the trans athlete disqualified from women's competition and the conference tournament. Now, with the UPenn situation resolved, McMahon will continue working to address the SJSU investigation. "Our investigation will continue," McMahon said of the developing situation with SJSU. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Republican-led states advance Trump's agenda with new laws taking effect Tuesday
While Congress scrambles to pass President Donald Trump's massive domestic policy bill, many red states are already implementing key aspects of his agenda through new laws this week. For most states, Tuesday is the start of a new fiscal year, when numerous laws take effect. Some of the statutes in Trump-won states this year mirror executive orders and other directives he signed early in his second term. Here's a sampling of the new laws set to be enforced. Indiana and Georgia are instituting bans on transgender women's participation in women's sports. Georgia's law is called the Riley Gaines Act, after the former collegiate swimmer who was a surrogate for the Trump campaign last year and has become an advocate for banning transgender athletes from women's sports. The issue of banning trans women from women's sports was a leading one for Trump, who campaigned on it and subsequently signed an executive order establishing the policy. Ohio will now allow parents to remove their children from lessons that include content about 'sexual concepts or gender ideology.' Teachers will also be required to inform parents if their children ask to be identified by genders different from their biological sexes at school. Iowa, meanwhile, is removing gender identity from its civil rights code, rendering it no longer a protected class. It is the first state to do so. Florida is enacting two laws officially recognizing the Gulf of Mexico as the 'Gulf of America.' State agencies will be required to implement the name change, and schools must do the same in educational materials, including K-12 textbooks. Florida is the first state to officially recognize the 'Gulf of America' after Trump signed an executive order seeking to make the change official. Florida is also taking a page out of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' playbook. The Legislature passed an omnibus agriculture bill that, among other provisions, ends the addition of fluoride to tap water, a move mirroring Kennedy's plan to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoridation in drinking water, long considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. Florida is the second state to ban fluoride in its water, following Utah, where a ban took effect in May. Indiana is enacting a law requiring county jails to report people they have probable cause to believe do not have legal status to the relevant federal authorities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The law applies to people arrested on allegations of felonies or misdemeanors. Georgia implemented a similar law Dec. 31, followed by Utah on May 7. Trump signed an executive order about local and state governments' cooperating with immigration enforcement. Laws in two states to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives take effect Tuesday. Indiana is banning DEI from colleges and state agencies, prohibiting employers or colleges from offering jobs or student aid because of identity-based characteristics such as race, sex or religion. The law also will prohibit using state funds for campus activities that 'promote or engage in social activism.' Mississippi is banning DEI in schools. A new state law prohibits programs and teachings in the classroom and in school offices that it describes as engaging in 'divisive concepts,' further adding that schools cannot make hires based on 'race, sex, color' or 'national origin.' A federal judge is weighing whether to stop the law from going into effect. Trump signed an anti-DEI executive order in January banning such programs and activities at federal agencies and businesses with government contracts, also encouraging the private sector to end DEI practices. Indiana is eliminating state funding for public broadcasting, mirroring Trump's executive order seeking to ban NPR and PBS from accessing federal funds. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
California violated Title IX over trans athletes, Trump administration says
The U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday formally declared California in violation of Title IX for allowing transgender females to compete in girls' and women's sports. 'Although Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted months ago it was 'deeply unfair' to allow men to compete in women's sports, both the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation continued as recently as a few weeks ago to allow men to steal female athletes' well-deserved accolades and to subject them to the indignity of unfair and unsafe competitions,' U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. The administration gave California's Department of Education 10 days to agree to several changes or 'risk imminent enforcement action.' Those changes include immediately barring biological males from girls' and women's sports and rescinding all titles awarded to trans female athletes. Title IX, a civil rights law enacted in 1972, prohibits sex discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funds, primarily public schools. 'It wouldn't be a day ending in 'Y' without the Trump Administration threatening to defund California,' Gov. Newsom's office said in a statement to KTLA 5 News. 'Now, Secretary McMahon is confusing government with her WrestleMania days — dramatic, fake, and completely divorced from reality. This won't stick.' Newsom's office noted that the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is an independent non-profit that does not fall under the purview of his administration. It also stated that the scope of the issue is narrow, with the number of transgender student-athletes in California in the 'single digits.' The Education Department's announcement comes less than a month after AB Hernandez, a 16-year-old transgender athlete from Southern California's Jurupa Valley, won the girls' long jump and triple jump at the state high school track and field championships. President Donald Trump criticized the CIF's decision to allow Hernandez to compete and threatened to withhold federal funding for violating an executive order he signed in February banning transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports. In response to Trump's order, the CIF, which governs high school sports in California, said at the time it would continue allowing trans athletes to compete on teams that match their gender identity, consistent with a 2013 California law. 'The Trump administration will relentlessly enforce Title IX protections for women and girls, and our findings today make clear that California has failed to adhere to its obligations under federal law,' McMahon said. 'The state must swiftly come into compliance with Title IX or face the consequences that follow.' Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor, has been a staunch supporter of LGBTQ+ rights. However, he drew some criticism from the left in March when, on the debut episode of his podcast, he said he believes that transgender athletes participating in girls' sports is 'deeply unfair' – a comment McMahon referenced in her statement. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fox News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Linda McMahon opens up on ongoing battle to combat trans inclusion in women's sports
Education Secretary Linda McMahon spoke to Fox News Digital during a tour stop during the Independent Women's Forum bus tour in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Monday. McMahon has been a key figure in the Trump administration's mission to counter trans athlete inclusion in women's and girls' sports, directing the Department of Education to launch several Title IX investigations into institutions that have enabled incidents to occur. Five months into her position, McMahon has helped spearhead the formation of a new federal Title IX Investigations team in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice. Meanwhile, the ongoing national culture war over the issue burns hotter than it ever has. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt and prominent conservative influencer Riley Gaines are among those on the right who have suggested potential criminal prosecution for officials who allow biological males to compete in women's and girls' sports. The recent high school sports season has featured several instances of female athletes protesting and demonstrating against transgender opponents, whether it be forfeits or medal podium stunts, in a growing viral trend. Fox News Digital (FND): What is your stance on the idea of criminal prosecution coming to officials who don't enforce Title IX and allow [biological] males to compete in girls' sports? McMahon: "I haven't actually addressed that with the Department of Justice, but it's certainly something that if the president would like us to look into it, we certainly would." FND: Going into [the next high school sports season], how important do you think it is that high school girl athletes make an effort to demonstrate against Democrat state lawmakers that don't enforce Title IX? McMahon: "I think it's very important, it's one of the things that I mentioned today when I was delivering my remarks to this group. I congratulated those young women for taking such a stand and I encouraged them to continue to do that. "Because that's what's going to make a difference, is to have these women athletes and these girl athletes who are really very strong and deserve the right to be able to play in the sport of their choice, but to compete against girls, because it's just an unfair playing field otherwise."And they have to stand up for their own rights. And also know that we're going to be standing behind them." FND: What can states [like California, Maine and Minnesota] expect in the second half of the year now that we're going on four to five months since President Trump signed the [Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports] executive order and they're still not following it? McMahon: "They run the risk of having their federal funding withdrawn. That's the main thing that's on the table. We have a task for that the Department of Education is doing with the Department of Justice to investigate Title IX violations and that's what we're doing. So the penalties are on the table for those that we find to be in violation." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
