The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and State High School League (MSHSL) illegally allowed boys to compete on six different girls’ sports teams for years, the Departments of Education (DoEd) and Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Wednesday.
The investigation found male students in Minnesota played girls high school Alpine and Nordic skiing, lacrosse, track and field, volleyball and fastpitch softball.
“Minnesota fails to recognize the fundamental biological differences between males and females —differences that justify single-sex teams and are essential to ensuring fair and safe competition for girls and women,” Paula M. Stannard, the Director of HHS’ Office for Civil Rights, wrote of the investigation.
DoEd and HHS will refer the case to the Department of Justice in ten days unless MDE, which oversees MSHSL, instructs all entities under its authority to:
- Comply with Title IX by segregating athletics and private spaces by sex.
- Define “male” and “female” by their true, biological definitions.
- Submit annual certifications to the federal government attesting they comply with Title IX.
MDE and MSHSL, together, must additionally:
- Revise their athletics guidelines to reflect federal, not state, law.
- Retrain all employees to enforce Title IX correctly using new, federally approved materials.
- Award all records and titles currently held by male athletes to the rightful, female winners.
- Write letters to all rightful female winners apologizing on behalf of Minnesota for subjecting them to sex discrimination.
It’s frankly unlikely Minnesota will follow instructions. The state has spent months waging war against the federal government’s efforts to strengthen Title IX.
DoEd began investigating MSHSL in February after the league refused to uphold President Trump’s executive order prohibiting federally funded educational programs from allowing boys to play in girls sports.
Instead, MSHSL promised it would continue allowing students to participate in sports consistent with their “gender identity” rather than their biological sex, citing Minnesota state law prohibiting schools from “discriminating against” students based on their “gender identity.”
HHS launched its own investigation into MSHSL in June after Melissa Rothenberger, a boy, led Champlin Park High School to a girls state softball title. Rothenberger pitched all 21 innings of the tournament series, allowing only three hits. He finished with a shut-out final against the defending champions.
It’s unclear if Rothenberger, a junior, has undergone any transgender hormone interventions. MSHSL’s handbook does not require any. Any student can participate on an opposite-sex team provided their “gender identity” is a “consistent” and “sincerely held part of [their] core identity.”
Of course, there are no clear guidelines or protocols for determining what qualifies as “consistent” or “sincere.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison went on the offensive in April by suing to stop the enforcement of “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” and “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” another executive order defining sex as biological and binary.
The filing contends the orders violate Title IX, rather than strengthen it, because Title IX does not preclude states from defining “sex” to include “gender ideology.”
The Daily Citizen breaks down Ellison’s mystifying argument here.
Further, a Minnesota district court recently ruled against three female athletes who argued allowing boys to play girls sports violated their constitutional rights. All three, including at least one softball player, had been harmed by boys playing on their sports teams.
The Alliance Defending Freedom appealed the girl’s case, Female Athletes United v. Minnesota, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit last week.
The Daily Citizen will continue covering the hotly contested fight to protect girls sports in Minnesota.
Additional Articles and Resources
Minnesota Lawsuit Advances Shockingly Poor Attacks on Title IX
Female Athletes Challenge Minnesota Policy Forcing Them to Compete Against Males
Department of Education Launches Multiple Investigations into Title IX Violations
Yes, Girls Care When Boys Take Their Trophies
Cringe: Simone Biles Erupts at Riley Gaines for ‘Bullying’ Boys in Girls Sports
President Trump: ‘There are Only Two Genders: Male and Female’
Trump Signs Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports and Spaces
