The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division warned California officials Wednesday that it is opening an investigation into whether the Golden State violates federal civil rights law by allowing males to compete in women’s sports.
“Title IX exists to protect women and girls in education. It is perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies,” Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in a statement on the move. “This Division will aggressively defend women’s hard-fought rights to equal educational opportunities.”
“The law is clear: Discrimination on the basis of sex is illegal and immoral,” Bill Essayli, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. “My office and the rest of the Department of Justice will work tirelessly to protect girls’ sports and stop anyone – public officials included – from violating women’s civil rights.”
The investigation aims to determine whether California, its senior legal, educational, and athletic organizations, and the Jurupa Unified School District violated Title IX, a federal civil rights law forbidding discrimination on the basis of sex in educational settings. The Justice Department is probing whether AB 1266—a bill passed by the California Legislature and codified in the California Education Code which allows males to compete in women’s sports—violates Title IX.
The Justice Department also filed a statement of interest supporting a lawsuit challenging AB 1266. Save Girls’ Sports v. Thurmond includes two anonymous high school female athletes, one of whom was removed from her position on the girls’ varsity cross-country team to make room for a biological male athlete who allegedly failed to satisfy many of the team’s varsity eligibility requirements.
This is a breaking news story and it will be updated.