
(Bloomberg) — The Trump administration sued California for allowing transgender students to participate in female sports, alleging the practice violates federal protections against sex-based discrimination in education.
The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring participation by transgender girls in female sports in the state’s school system. The Justice Department alleges the practice violates a federal law known as Title IX.
The suit is part of a broad effort by President Donald Trump to roll back trans rights, including lifting workplace protections and banning trans Americans from the armed forces. The US Supreme Court this month agreed to decide whether states can ban transgender girls and women from schools’ female athletic teams, and last month upheld a Tennessee law that outlaws gender-affirming care for trans minors.
“Despite Title IX’s equal opportunity mandate, defendants have adopted and implemented policies that force girls to compete against boys — despite the real physiological differences between the sexes — if the boy asserts that he is a girl,” the Justice Department said in the complaint, filed in federal court in Santa Ana, California.
The new lawsuit is also the latest legal clash between California and the Trump administration, which has deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles and criticized “sanctuary city” policies as part of a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration.
The suit was filed against the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation, which oversees 1.8 million students and over 750,000 student-athletes.
The California Education Department didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
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