The Trump administration has carried out on a threat to sue the state of Minnesota and its school athletics governing body for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports
MINNEAPOLIS — The Trump administration sued Minnesota and its school athletics governing body on Monday, carrying out a threat to punish the state for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports.
The lawsuit is part of a broader fight over the rights of transgender youth. More than two dozen states have laws prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports and some have barred gender-affirming surgeries for minors. Courts have blocked some of those policies. In the lawsuit filed Monday, the Justice Department alleges the state Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League are violating Title IX, a federal law against sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal money. “The Trump Administration does not tolerate flawed state policies that ignore biological reality and unfairly undermine girls on the playing field,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called the lawsuit “a sad attempt to get attention” over an issue that has already been in litigation for months. He said he'll keep fighting. “It is astonishing that any president would try to target, shame, and harass children just trying to be themselves, let alone a president with so many actual problems to address,” Ellison said in a statement. League officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The administration has filed similar lawsuits against Maine and California, and has threatened the federal funding of some universities over transgender athletes, including San Jose State in California and the University of Pennsylvania. Minnesota officials have long resisted the federal push to ban trans athletes from girls sports. Ellison filed a preemptive lawsuit last April, saying Minnesota's human rights act supersedes executive orders issued by President Donald Trump last year. The lawsuit also says the state is already in compliance with Title IX. A ruling is pending on the federal government's motion to dismiss that case. The Justice Department said in a statement that Minnesota violates Title IX “by requiring girls to compete against boys in athletic competitions that are designated exclusively for girls and allowing boys to invade intimate spaces designated exclusively for girls, such as multi-person locker rooms and bathrooms.” To buttress its claims that trans athletes have an unfair advantage, the lawsuit highlights the case of a trans pitcher on the Champlin Park High School girls varsity fastpitch softball team who helped lead the school to a 6-0 victory in a state championship game in 2025. The Trump administration also reversed the Biden administration's interpretation of Title IX, which held that its provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex also extended to gender identity. According to the Justice Department, Minnesota's Department of Education receives more than $3 billion annually in federal funding from the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. It says that funding is contingent on compliance with Title IX. The lawsuit asks a federal court in Minnesota to declare the state in violation of Title IX and order it to prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls' prep sports. The civil rights offices at the Education and Health and Human Services put the state and league on notice last September that they faced legal action if they didn't stop violating the federal law.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Minnesota es el epicentro de las protestas 'No Kings' contra Trump en EEUU y EuropaLos organizadores de las manifestaciones “No Kings” (“Sin Reyes”) del sábado en todo Estados Unidos pronostican que las protestas contra las acciones del presidente Donald Trump y su administración podrían convertirse en una de las mayores en la historia del país, con Minnesota en el centro de atención.
Read more »
Trump administration sues Minnesota over transgender athletes in girls sportsMinnesota says state’s human rights act supersedes executive orders issued by Trump.
Read more »
Trump administration sues Minnesota over transgender athletes in girls sportsThe Trump administration has carried out on a threat to sue the state of Minnesota and its school athletics governing body for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports.
Read more »
DOJ sues Minnesota for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls' sportsToday's Video Headlines: 3/30/2026
Read more »
DOJ sues Minnesota over transgender athlete policies in girls’ sportsThe DOJ sued Minnesota over transgender athletes in girls' sports, escalating a broader Title IX legal battle already with two other states.
Read more »
Trump DOJ files lawsuit against Minnesota over trans athlete policyFox News Channel offers its audiences in-depth news reporting, along with opinion and analysis encompassing the principles of free people, free markets and diversity of thought, as an alternative to the left-of-center offerings of the news marketplace.
Read more »