WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights today released the following statement commending two athletic associations, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) and the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA), which have changed their athletic policies to conform to President Trump’s Executive Order and antidiscrimination laws:
“We applaud these entities for recognizing President Trump’s leadership in protecting women and girls from biological male competitors, and for recognizing that this is the appropriate and correct understanding of Title IX. We expect other interscholastic athletic associations will follow suit immediately,” said Craig Trainor, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.
The Department also acknowledges the elected state representatives and officials who have held strong on common sense and adhered to Title IX’s commands. Their principled positions have protected women and girls from the inherent unfairness and attending indignity of being forced to compete against biological males. We thank leaders from Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Iowa, Indiana, Utah, Kentucky, West Virginia, Arizona, Kansas, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Florida, and Missouri for holding the line on women’s civil rights.
Background:
In response to President Trump’s February 5 Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports Executive Order, the Office for Civil Rights launched investigations into educational institutions and athletic associations, including the California Interscholastic Federation and Minnesota State High School League, where on-going Title IX violations have been alleged and reported.
After these announcements, the NHIAA Council on February 14 voted unanimously “to suspend NHIAA By-Law Article II: Section 21,” determining that students’ biological sex, not their “gender identity,” will determine their participation in sports, despite previously defending its earlier policy of allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports and calling sports determined by biological sex alone “fundamentally unjust.”
The Executive Director of the WIAA on February 19 released a statement that the WIAA Board of Control “voted to update the organization’s policy with regard to student-athlete eligibility – affirming its compliance with federal directives that only students designated as females at birth will be allowed to participate in girls competitions.”