Trump administration: California must strip trans athletes of awards

Lia Russell, The Sacramento Bee on Jun 25, 2025

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California has 10 days to rescind any sports prizes awarded to transgender athletes and ban them from competition, after U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said that the state Department of Education had violated Title IX by allowing trans athletes to participate on teams that reflect their gender identity.

McMahon said Wednesday that the state DOE and the California Interscholastic Federation, a nonprofit that governs school sports competitions, had subjected female athletes “to the indignity of unfair and unsafe competitions” by “allow(ing) men to steal female athletes’ well-deserved accolades.”

It’s unclear whether this means California will stop enforcing a 2013 law, signed into law by then-Gov. Jerry Brown, that allows student-athletes to participate on any team or use facilities that correspond with their gender identity. The Legislature previously swatted two attempts earlier this year to repeal that law and ban trans girls from sports.

The state Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The CIF amended its rules last month to allow cisgender athletes to tie if they lost a competition to a transgender athlete after President Donald Trump threatened to pull federal funding. The organization enacted the policy after right-wing advocates zeroed in on AB Hernandez, a 16-year-old transgender athlete in Southern California who placed first in the high jump in this month’s statewide track-and-field championship.

Shortly after taking office, Trump issued executive orders banning transgender girls from participating in sports, arguing that it violated Title IX, and eliminated the separation of gender identity and sex, arguing Biden-era protections promoted “gender ideology.”

Athlete’s mom: ‘This is not justice’

Nena Hernandez, AB’s mother, said in an interview that she was not surprised at the DOE announcement, and that AB’s victories did not count when the CIF changed its policy to have her share her first-place position with two other girls.

“The findings of the DOE were expected when the decision-makers are the ones doing the discrimination,” she said. “This is not justice, it’s manipulation. This is evidently abuse of power and a continuous direct attack on the rights of trans women and trans girls.”

McMahon said the state DOE and CIF must rescind any guidance allowing “male” athletes to participate in girls’ sports, restore to female athletes any individual titles or records that they had lost to a male athlete, and send them personalized apology letters. The state Department of Education must also advise any schools that receive federal funding that they must comply with Title IX, and must supply the federal Office of Civil Rights with a monitoring plan to ensure that schools are fully complying with federal anti-discrimination law.

In her statement on Wednesday, McMahon seized upon Gov. Gavin Newsom’s previous comments from March, when he said on his podcast that transgender athletes should be barred from sports due to “fairness” despite state law protecting them from exclusion.

“Although Governor 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,” McMahon said.

“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. The state must swiftly come into compliance with Title IX or face the consequences that follow.”

“It wouldn’t be a day ending in ‘Y’ without the Trump administration threatening to defund California,” said Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon on Wednesday.

“Now Secretary McMahon is confusing government with her WrestleMania days — dramatic, fake, and completely divorced from reality. This won’t stick.”

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