The Department of Justice (DOJ) describes the California Department of Education (CDE) and the California Interscholastic Federation’s (CIF) infuriating treatment of female athletes in a lawsuit filed yesterday.
The complaint alleges CDE and CIF violated — and continue to violate — Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions and activities, by allowing boys to compete in girls sports and change in girls’ locker rooms.
The court’s ruling will determine whether California remains eligible to receive federal tax dollars. CDE and CIF received more than $44 billion in federal education funding this fiscal year alone, the DOJ reports.
The DOJ’s complaint argues CDE and CIF policies illegally discriminate against and harm girls in two ways: by depriving them of equal athletic opportunities and by creating a hostile educational environment.
The DOJ proves its first claim by identifying five male athletes that competed in California girls sports leagues in 2024 and 2025. Though the suit identifies none by name, the identities of all but one are public knowledge.
The first male athlete listed is AB Hernandez, the boy who infamously won two California girls state track and field titles in May. According to the complaint, Hernandez has been competing in girls events since 2022.
In the 2024-2025 outdoor track and field season, the DOJ estimates Hernandez won “at least 36 first place victories or gold medals” at CIF events.
‘Abigail’ Jones, which the DOJ calls “Student 2,” has been competing in girls track and field and cross country since 2023. In 2025, he took first place in the 100-meter hurdles at the Big VII League Championships.
When Jones transferred to Martin Luther King High School in November 2024, Fox reports, an athlete named Taylor lost her position on the girls varsity cross country team.
When she and a teammate, Kaitlyn, wore “Save Girls Sports” shirts to protest Taylor’s ouster, MLK officials allegedly told them to change or cover up.
“School officials … told [the girls] that wearing the shirts was like ‘wearing a swastika in front of Jewish students,’” the DOJ’s complaint reads, citing the incident as evidence CIF and CDE retaliate against girls who protest boys invading their sports.
‘Lily’ Norcross, “Student 3,” has run girls track and field since 2023. In the 2024-2025 season, Norcross competed in Division 1 CIF events.
Henry Hanlon, “Student 4,” has competed in girls volleyball, basketball and soccer since 2021. When Hanlon, who is notorious for dwarfing his competitors, skipped a basketball game in February, his team lost by 26 points, the New York Post reports.
“Student 5,” an anonymous male who has competed in girls volleyball with Half Moon Bay High School since 2022, led his team to victory at the Peninsula Athletic League volleyball championship in 2024.
The DOJ uses Norcross, “Student 3,” and his effect on girls in Lucia Mar Unified School District to prove its second claim — that CIF and CDE have created a “hostile educational environment” by forcing girls to share locker rooms with boys.
Two athletes came forward at Lucia Mar school board meetings in May and April, respectively, to describe their experience changing in front of Norcross.
“I strongly disagree with what is going on in the girls’ locker room and on the girls track team, so much so that I change in my car for track practice because I feel way more comfortable in my car than I do in my own school’s locker room,” Audrey Venherweg, a junior, told the board in May.
In April, 17-year-old Celeste Duyst tearfully recounted:
The DOJ uses Duyst’s testimony as an example of the ways co-ed locker rooms “substantially increase the risk of sexual harassment, assault and voyeurism in girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms,” further noting of Norcross:
The DOJ asks the court to find CIF and CDE in violation of Title IX and issue a permanent injunction requiring them to:
- Keep boys out of girls sports.
- Implement a monitoring system to ensure all schools and institutions under CIF and CDE’s authority comply with Title XI.
- “Establish a process to compensate female athletes who have been denied athletic opportunities due to [CDE and CIF’s] violations, including correcting past athletic records.”
- Submit Title IX compliance reports to the federal government for at least five years following the judgement.
The DOJ also requests the court make CIF and CDE pay punitive damages to the United States, as well as court costs and “an award of all such additional relief as the interests of justice may require.”
Federally funded institutions are supposed to protect the safety and rights of female students. CIF and CDE, in contrast, are actively endangering girls and stifling those trying to stand up for themselves.
The DOJ puts it well:
CIF and CDE should not receive a dime more of taxpayers’ money until they agree to uphold their responsibility to the female students whose parents trust them to protect.
The case is United States of America v. California Interscholastic Federation and California Department of Education.
To read more about the conflict between California and the Trump administration, click on the links below.
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Feds Pressure California After Boy Wins in Girls Track and Field Championship
Girls Sports Coaches are Incentivized to Recruit Men — Parents Shouldn’t Let Them
Department of Justice Launches Title IX Task Force to Protect Women’s Sports
Girls Shouldn’t Apologize for Protesting Boys in Girls Sports
Trump Signs Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports and Spaces
President Trump: ‘There are Only Two Genders: Male and Female’