California can keep allowing trans athletes to compete after judge tosses federal lawsuit
After two years of public banter, judge rules Department of Justice cannot force a ban on trans athletes in California.
Mark
A Trump Administration lawsuit against the state of California over allowing transgender youth to play on sports team that match their gender identity was thrown out by a federal judge this week.
Judge Cynthia Valenzuela dismissed the suit and ended the case on grounds that the Department of Justice did not give due notice that federal funding hinged on banning transgender student-athletes.
“Count I depends on a single asserted rule: that Title IX requires schools to use biological sex, regardless of gender identity, to determine eligibility for girls’ athletics and access to sex-separated athletic facilities,” the ruling stated.
“Plaintiff’s athletics, equal-opportunity, and facilities theories all depend on that rule. Because Title IX and its regulations did not clearly impose any such rule as a condition of federal funding, Count I is dismissed.”
Valenzuela also noted that such policy guidelines have changed most recently with the executive order on the issue in 2025. She ruled that the executive order did not qualify as due notice.
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California has opposed such efforts even while putting forth policies such as the California Interscholastic Federation’s program that awarded extra spots and placing for cisgender athletes should a transgender athlete qualify or place in an individual sport.
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LGBTQ rights group in the state celebrated the decision. “The Trump administration’s relentless and hateful campaign against transgender children has hit another roadblock,“ representatives for Rainbow Families Action said in a statement. “This lifts a significant shadow that has been hanging over the joyous and expanding success story of girls’ and women’s sports in California.”
U.S. Department of Justice officials stated that they are considering options for a potential appeal.
The ruling comes two months after the U.S. Supreme Court in “West Virginia vs. B.P.J.” and “Miller vs. Hecox” upheld bans in West Virginia and Idaho. The rulings did not force a national ban on trans student-athletes, but do allow individual states to pursue such action.
Currently, 27 states ban transgender girls from competing in girls scholastic athletics. Colorado, Arizona and Washington have potential bans that will be put to voters via ballot initiative this November. Nebraska will put a constitutional amendment on the issue to voters this year as well.
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