The federal government announced Wednesday, May 28, that it has launched an investigation into California school administrators, the California Interscholastic Federation and the Jurupa Unified School District for letting transgender athletes compete in girls’ sports.
Also, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter supporting a lawsuit filed by female Riverside Unified School District athletes that alleges the district violated their rights by ordering them to remove or conceal T-shirts opposing the practice of transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports and limiting their access to sports.
The investigation names the CIF, State Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the Jurupa school district in Riverside County.
RELATED: Trump blasts Jurupa Valley transgender athlete set to compete in CIF State meet
The probe will look into whether Title IX, a landmark federal civil rights law, is being violated by AB 1266, a 2013 state law permitting students to access bathrooms, sports teams and other facilities based on their gender identity. Enacted in 1972, Title IX protects individuals from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.
Jurupa Unified School District spokesperson Jacqueline Paul said the district “has not received any letter of complaint from the department and their press release has been corrected to exclude our district in today’s announcement.”
The district declined to comment without further information, Paul said.
Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice, said the Jurupa district is listed as a target of the investigation but is not part of the lawsuit, which involves the Riverside Unified School District.
When asked why the department was investigating the Jurupa school district, McEvoy sent a link to an online article about President Donald Trump’s reaction to an openly transgender athlete in Jurupa schools, AB Hernandez, who is competing in a CIF state track and field meet later this week. He then said the department would not have further comments.
Liz Pinney-Muglia, spokesperson for the Riverside district, said the district had no comment because the case involves continuing litigation.
Announcement of the probe comes a day after Trump, posted on social media that he will withhold federal funding from California if transgender athletes are allowed to compete in girls’ sports. His post refers to Hernandez, who will compete in the long jump and triple jump.
“THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS,” Trump wrote on his Truth social. “Please be hereby advised that large-scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to.”
The investigation was announced by the office of Bill Essayli, a former Corona Republican Assemblymember appointed in April to be U.S. attorney for the Justice Department’s Central District of California.
In January, Essayli supported the introduction of AB 89 to the California Assembly, a bill that would have barred transgender athletes from sports that do not align with their gender assigned at birth.
The bill failed in committee, but several school districts across Southern California took up the “Save Girls’ Sports” resolution, which parrots language in the failed bill. The board of the Capistrano Unified School District in Orange County passed the resolution last week. The Temecula Valley Unified School District board did so March 28, while Chino Valley school trustees followed April 17. The Redlands Unified School District board approved it April 24. The Riverside Unified school board chose not to vote on a similar resolution in January.
The CIF on Tuesday announced a change in the entry rules for the state track-and-field champion meet, essentially expanding the field of competitors in various events to ensure that “biological female” athletes are not excluded from competition, which is set for Friday, May 30, and Saturday, May 31, at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
“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,” according to the CIF. “The CIF believes this pilot entry process achieves the participation opportunities we seek to afford our student-athletes.”
The CIF statement did not specifically mention transgender athletes, though the governor’s office noted in a statement that the change is aimed at ensuring biological female athletes can compete. Hernandez, a junior, has faced criticism online not only from Trump but from others, including Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified School District board.
“CIF’s proposed pilot is a reasonable, respectful way to navigate a complex issue without compromising competitive fairness — a model worth pursuing,” the governor’s office Director of Communications Izzy Gardon said in a statement. “The governor is encouraged by this thoughtful approach.”
Shaw, who announced in March her run for state superintendent of schools, told City News Service that she’s been attending high school track and field meets to draw attention to Hernandez competing in girls’ events. won’t be displaced from this weekend’s meet, while still allowing transgender athletes to compete.
Shaw received a cease-and-desist letter from Nereyda Hernandez, Hernandez’s mother, over comments Shaw posted on her Instagram account. The comments were directed at AB Hernandez about what Shaw called biological males competing in high school girls’ sports.
The release from the justice department said the investigation will look at whether California’s organizations and school districts are discriminating against female students on the basis of sex.
At the same time, the department is supporting a November lawsuit alleging that the Riverside school district violated students’ First Amendment rights and denied students fair and equal access to athletics. In the federal lawsuit, two students at Riverside’s King High School alleged that they were replaced on their cross country team in favor of a transgender athlete.
“Title IX exists to protect women and girls in education,” Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in the release. “It is perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies. This Division will aggressively defend women’s hard-fought rights to equal educational opportunities.”
The lawsuit against Riverside schools alleges that AB 1266 conflicts with Title IX and unlawfully “permits males to participate on female sports teams and to use female spaces, resulting in unfair and unsafe environments for women and girls.”
The lawsuit alleges a female student, referred to as T.S., was “ousted” from a spot competing at the October Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational “to make room for a biological male transgender athlete who did not consistently attend practices and failed to satisfy many of the team’s varsity eligibility qualifications.”
“As a result, T.S. missed opportunities to compete at a high-profile meet, losing valuable chances for college recruitment and recognition,” the lawsuit alleges.
The transgender athlete received more favorable treatment than two female students “and other female athletes who have consistently satisfied many of the varsity eligibility qualifications,” the lawsuit alleges.
The suit also alleges that King High students opposed to the district’s actions wore T-shirts with the slogans “Save Girls’ Sports” and “It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY,” and were told by a school administrator that this was akin to wearing Nazi swastikas in front of Jewish students.
City News Service contributed to this report.
