In brief
The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against Minnesota, claiming violations of Title IX by permitting transgender athletes to compete in girls sports. The Justice Department argues this infringes on the rights of girls in sports and threatens federal funding. Minnesota officials have previously resisted federal mandates regarding transgender athletes, contending their state laws protect human rights.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Trump administration sued Minnesota and its school athletics governing body on Monday, carrying out a threat to punish the state for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports.
The lawsuit is part of a broader fight over the rights of transgender youth. More than two dozen states have laws prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports and some have barred gender-affirming surgeries for minors. Courts have blocked some of those policies.
In the lawsuit filed Monday, the Justice Department alleges the state Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League are violating Title IX, a federal law against sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal money.
“The Trump Administration does not tolerate flawed state policies that ignore biological reality and unfairly undermine girls on the playing field,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the state attorney general’s office was checking on a response. League officials did not not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The administration has filed similar lawsuits against Maine and California, and has threatened the federal funding of some universities over transgender athletes, including San Jose State in California and the University of Pennsylvania.
Minnesota officials have long resisted the federal push to ban trans athletes from girls sports. The state filed a preemptive lawsuit last April, claiming Minnesota’s human rights act supersedes executive orders issued by President Donald Trump last year. The lawsuit also states the state is already in compliance with Title IX. A ruling is pending on the federal government’s motion to dismiss that case.
The Justice Department stated that Minnesota violates Title IX by requiring girls to compete against boys in competitions designated exclusively for girls, allowing boys to invade intimate spaces such as locker rooms and bathrooms.
According to the Justice Department, Minnesota’s Department of Education receives over $3 billion annually in federal funding, contingent on compliance with Title IX.
The lawsuit seeks a federal court declaration that the state is in violation of Title IX and orders to prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ prep sports.
