MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — 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, while some have barred gender-affirming surgeries for minors. Courts have blocked some of those policies.
In the lawsuit filed Monday, the Justice Department alleges that 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 stated.
A spokesperson for the state attorney general’s office was checking on a response. League officials did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The administration has filed similar lawsuits against Maine and California and threatened federal funding for schools over transgender athletes.
Minnesota officials have long resisted the federal push to ban trans athletes from girls sports. The state had filed a preemptive lawsuit last April, asserting that its human rights act supersedes executive orders issued by President Donald Trump last year.
The Justice Department claims Minnesota violates Title IX by requiring girls to compete against boys and allowing boys in spaces designated for girls. The lawsuit seeks a federal court ruling to declare Minnesota in violation of Title IX and to prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ prep sports.
The federal government warns that Minnesota’s Department of Education receives over $3 billion annually in federal funding, which is contingent upon compliance with Title IX.
