The California Interscholastic Federation invited more girls to compete in the state high school track and field finals on Tuesday following backlash to a transgender athlete qualifying.
The invitation came hours after President Donald Trump issued a rebuke of California for allowing a 16-year-old transgender runner to compete. Trump said the inclusion of a biological male was “totally demeaning to women and girls,” threatened to pull funding from the state, and said he would discuss the matter with Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) the same day.
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CIF did not cite the president in its decision to open the competition to more female athletes.
“Under this pilot entry process, any biological female student-athlete who would have earned the next qualifying mark for one of their Section’s automatic qualifying entries in the CIF State meet, and did not achieve the CIF State at-large mark in the finals at their Section meet, was extended an opportunity to participate in the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships,” the federation’s statement read. “The CIF believes this pilot entry process achieves the participation opportunities we seek to afford our student-athletes.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House and Newsom’s office for comment.
Newsom argued that transgender athletes competing against women in sports is “deeply unfair” in a March episode of the This is Gavin Newsom podcast. However, a Washington Examiner review of California grant records from 2022 to 2024 shows that Newsom’s administration spent roughly $5 million on programs supporting youth transgenderism.
Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order clarified that Title IX would be enforced on the basis of biological sex, with his administration arguing that requiring a female to compete against a transgender woman instead of having female-exclusive sports constitutes a civil rights violation.
In February, the Education Department launched an investigation into the CIF due to its defiance of the executive order. Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said at the time, “History does not look kindly on entities and states that actively opposed the enforcement of federal civil rights laws that protect women and girls from discrimination and harassment.”
There are 1,500 schools under the CIF’s jurisdiction.
The two-day event will be broadcast by the National Federation of State High School Associations beginning Friday.