The Department of Education announced Monday it has opened an investigation into a Seattle, Washington school district over alleged non-compliance with President Donald Trump’s order banning men from competing in women’s sports.
A 15-year-old female student athlete accused the Tumwater School District of allowing males to compete against females and said the school retaliated against her for speaking out about the issue, according to the education department. Trump signed a Feb. 5 executive order to protect women from the discrimination, harassment and injuries caused by men dominating women’s sports, threatening to revoke federal funding from any school that does not comply.
“OCR’s [Office for Civil Rights] directed investigations of educational institutions, state boards of education, interscholastic associations, and school districts demonstrates that the Trump Education Department will vigorously enforce Title IX to ensure men stop competing in women’s sports,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education, said in a statement. “If Washington wants to continue to receive federal funds from the Department, it has to follow federal law.”
Several female athletes have been injured after being forced to compete against males, such as 19-year-old Payton McNabb, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after a man claiming to be transgender spiked a volleyball into her head. Trump has since invited McNabb to be a special guest at the president’s first joint address in front of Congress Tuesday.
Trump has taken several steps to reinstate protections for women that were revoked in favor of policies benefiting transgender individuals under the Biden administration. Former President Joe Biden attempted to rewrite Title IX to include gender identity, undermining its intended protections for women, though the efforts were cut short by several courts and eventually the rule change was revoked entirely.
Along with the original order, the president has urged the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to strip biological men of titles earned in women’s sports and restore women’s records after the organization approved a policy in April 2024 mandating that athletes compete in their biological sex category. Trump also signed an executive order in January banning federal funds from going towards sex changes for minors.
Trump’s actions have inspired several states to take steps to outlaw sex changes for minors and embed protections for women, with states like Iowa even axing transgender protections from the state’s civil rights code.
Congressional Republicans tried to codify Trump’s executive order banning men from women’s sports via the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, but Senate Democrats blocked the effort Monday by a 51 to 45 vote.
Tumwater School District did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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