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 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. Minnesota officials have long resisted the federal push to ban trans athletes from girls sports and filed a preemptive lawsuit last April, asserting that Minnesota’s human rights act supersedes executive orders issued by President Donald Trump.
The Justice Department's statement highlighted that Minnesota’s Department of Education receives more than $3 billion annually in federal funding, which is contingent on compliance with Title IX. The lawsuit demands a federal court ruling to declare the state in violation of Title IX and to prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ prep 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 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. Minnesota officials have long resisted the federal push to ban trans athletes from girls sports and filed a preemptive lawsuit last April, asserting that Minnesota’s human rights act supersedes executive orders issued by President Donald Trump.
The Justice Department's statement highlighted that Minnesota’s Department of Education receives more than $3 billion annually in federal funding, which is contingent on compliance with Title IX. The lawsuit demands a federal court ruling to declare the state in violation of Title IX and to prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ prep sports.
