Girls Sports

Minnesota Allowed Boys to Compete on Six Girls Teams, Federal Investigation

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

Sign These Three Ballot Petitions to Protect Kids and Parental Rights in Colorado

Every child deserves safety, fairness and protection from irreversible, damaging medical procedures. This September, Protect Kids Colorado, a coalition of parents, grandparents and concerned citizens, is campaigning to uphold these rights — and they need your help.

Protect Kids Colorado is collecting signatures to put three measures on the ballot next November. The initiatives protect children from sexual predators, keep girls’ sports for girls and ban irreversible sex-change surgeries for minors.

Stop Child Sex Trafficking

Children should never be exploited. Exploitation of children for sex is especially heinous. This measure would impose life in prison without parole for anyone who buys or sells a minor for sex in Colorado.

It’s time to send a clear message — Colorado will not tolerate child sex trafficking.

Petition signatures for this initiative are due in February.

Protect Girls’ Sports

Female athletes deserve dignity, safety and equal opportunity. This citizen initiative protects female athletes by ensuring an even playing field.

The measure requires Colorado athletic teams be specifically designated as male, female or co-ed. It unequivocally declares only biological females will play in female sports.

Signature packets for this initiative are due in February.

Ban Irreversible Transgender Surgeries on Minors

Children should be safeguarded from making irreversible decisions about their reproductive future. This citizen initiative prohibits irreversible sex-change surgeries for anyone under the age of 18.

Petition signatures are due by in February.

From the Leaders of the Ballot Initiative

The co-chairs leading the ballot measure effort are Erin Lee of Protect Kids Colorado, Jennifer Sey, Founder of XX-XY and U.S. National Gymnastics Champion, and Mark “Oz” Geist, the hero credited with saving 25 people in the attack on a U.S. CIA outpost in Benghazi.

The three lay out their reasons for leading the effort in the video below.

In an exclusive interview with Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen, Erin Lee, Executive Director of Protect Kids Colorado, said she thinks the citizen-initiated ballot measure process could be the tipping point needed to bring change to Colorado.

“I believe the passing of these three measures to protect girls’ sports, prohibit irreversible sex-change surgeries on children, and punish child sex traffickers will start a domino effect of massive change in Colorado and beyond.”

Lee insists that getting involved in this ballet measure process is one small way Coloradans could fundamentally change the state for good.

It’s easy to feel hopeless in this state, but the citizen ballot measure process allows We the People to take matters into our own hands. These measures are a way for everyone who cares about protecting kids and fixing Colorado to just do a little bit, to have conversations with friends and family, and in so doing be part of significant change.

This volunteer signature gathering effort brings us together and reverses radical policies that are actively harming children and families; but most importantly, if enough Coloradans get involved, it has the power to fundamentally shift the culture of this state. 

Lee shared this video on X to announce the official launch date of the campaign effort to put these initiatives on the ballot.

Next Steps

Protect Kids Colorado has a goal of collecting 200,000 valid signatures per initiative by this Christmas to qualify for next year’s November ballot.

Focus on the Family supports all three ballot initiatives.

Here are six ways you can help these measures get across the finish line.

  1. Sign all three petitions.
  2. Carry a petition and collect signatures.
  3. Forward this article to other Colorado voters and urge them to sign the petitions.
  4. Volunteer your time to the cause.
  5. Donate to Protect Kids Colorado.
  6. Pray that these initiatives would qualify for the ballot and win next November!

Getting these measures on the ballot is the first step. The next step is winning the election next November. 

To learn more about collecting signatures or to find out where you can sign a petition visit: https://www.protectkidscolorado.org/.

Girls Volleyball Team Forfeits Game to Avoid Playing Boy

A high school girls volleyball team in California chose to forfeit a game against a male competitor last Friday, Fox News reports.

The girls’ bold sacrifice, and the support of their parents and educators, reflect Californians’ growing intolerance for boys playing girls sports.

Riverside Poly High School recorded a loss Friday after refusing to play against Jurupa Valley High School. Though the school did not provide a reason for the forfeit, parents and a Riverside Unified School District board member told Fox the team did not want to play Jurupa Valley’s AB Hernandez – a boy.

Hernandez is no stranger to winning girls events; he took first in the triple and high jumps at the California girls high school track and field championship in May.

His participation in girls’ volleyball isn’t just profoundly unfair — it’s dangerous.

Riverside Unified School District board member Amanda Vickers told Fox on Friday:

This is about [the] difference between biological girls and biological boys. And, tonight, the girls of Riverside Poly High School, they’re not going to end up like Payton McNabb.

McNabb suffered serious head trauma in 2022 after a male opponent spiked a ball into her face. The blow left the then-17-year-old with a severe concussion. She still struggles with partial paralysis and vision problems.

“I applaud these girls!” McNabb told Fox Digital in a statement of support for Riverside Poly. “They were put in a situation no young athlete should ever face — choosing between their safety and their sport.”

She continued:

What these girls did took real courage, and it’s devastating that they’re the ones paying the price for a decision made by adults.

California Family Council Outreach Director Sophia Lorey, who was escorted out of the state track and field championship for distributing “Save Girls Sports” bracelets, echoes McNabb.

“For high school girls to boldly say, ‘I will not put my safety at risk and aid in the erasure of girls sports’ is an incredibly difficult stand to take,” she told the Daily Citizen.

“I am both proud of and inspired by [these girls’] courage.”

The Riverside Poly girls volleyball team is just one group of many young California women standing up against boys in girls’ sports and private spaces. Their efforts have helped sour Californians on gender ideology in sports. A recent survey of nearly 3,000 California adults found most supported requiring students to participate on sports teams consistent with their biological sex, including:

  • 65% of adults surveyed.
  • 64% of likely voters.
  • 71% of parents with children in public schools.

But California institutions like the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) remain unwilling to protect girls’ rights.

CIF not only allows students like Hernandez to compete in sports consistent with their subjective  “gender identity,” rather than their biological sex, but also:

  • Prevents school officials from asking for documentation of a student’s “gender-related identity” unless they have “credible information” indicating it is false.
  • Allows students to change their “identity” at will, such that they can compete in a girls’ league one semester and a boys’ league the next.
  • Prevents coaches from preemptively moving a boy on a girls’ team to a separate changing area.
  • Encourages coaches to prepare girls for a boy to join their team.
  • Will not tell parents when a “transgender” athlete joins their child’s team.

Lorey concludes:

The continued dominance of [Hernandez] exposes the bigger problem: California’s leaders continue to allow males to invade girls’ sports, erase female athletes and compromise safety.

From track and field to volleyball, males are dominating girls’ sports across the state, and unless something changes, more girls will lose out as more males take over.

Happily, something is changing. More girls, parents and educators are standing up for equality, safety and biological reality in sports — often at great personal cost.

Please join Daily Citizen in praying for the protection and continued boldness in girls defending their rights.

Additional Articles and Resources

California Interscholastic Federation ‘Gender Diversity Toolkit’ Reveals Extent of Radical ‘Transgender’ Participation Policies

Feds Sue California Department of Education, Interscholastic Federations for ‘Illegal Sex Discrimination’

DOJ Lawsuit Describes California Department of Education’s Infuriating Treatment of Girls

Feds Pressure California After Boy Wins in Girls Track and Field Championship

Yes, Girls Care When Boys Take Their Trophies

Girls Sports Coaches are Incentivized to Recruit Men — Parents Shouldn’t Let Them

Gavin Newsom and the Dead-End Politics of the Sexual Revolution

Trump Signs Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports and Spaces

Loudoun County Schools Defy Education Department Over Multiple Title IX Violations

The Loudoun County School Board voted to defy a U.S. Department of Education order to stop violating Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funds.

As a result, the school district could lose almost $46 million in federal funding, LoudounNow reported.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found that five Northern Virginia school districts violated Title IX by allowing “students to access intimate, sex-segregated facilities based on the students’ wholly subjective ‘gender identity,’” as the Daily Citizen reported just two weeks ago.

But the Loudoun County School Board chose to pursue woke ideology and violate students’ rights rather than comply with the federal law and the OCR’s demands.

The districts’ Title IX violations began in 2021 when the board, over the objections of many parents, voted 7-2 to pass Policy 8040, “Rights of Transgender and Gender-Expansive Students.”

The policy was implemented after the state’s education department published “Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools,” which required that schools allow students to participate in sports and access locker rooms and restrooms “in a manner consistent with their gender identity.”

Schools were also mandated to “incorporate regular education about transgender students into staff professional development and training.” It was considered “verbal harassment” for teachers and other students to intentionally use names and pronouns not consistent with a student’s “gender identity.”

The state guidelines trampled on parental rights, stating, “If a student is not ready or able to safely share with their family about their gender identity, this should be respected. There are no regulations requiring school staff to notify a parent or guardian of a student’s request to affirm their gender identity.”

Loudoun’s Policy 8040 followed those guidelines. They’ve been a disaster for the district, teachers, parents and students.  

Shortly after the policy was implemented, the district lost a lawsuit to Tanner Cross, a teacher who was suspended for opposing it at a school board meeting. Cross had said,

“I love all of my students, but I will never lie to them regardless of the consequences. I’m a teacher, but I serve God first and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it’s against my religion. It’s lying to a child, it’s abuse to a child, and it’s sinning against our God.”

Even worse, the policy opened girls restrooms to boys who claimed to be female. A skirt-wearing “gender fluid” boy then sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl in the girls restroom at Loudoun’s Stone Bridge High School.

Loudoun County Schools Superintendent and Board dragged the girl’s father out of a board meeting, tried to cover up the incident and transferred the boy to another school – where he assaulted a second girl.

Also at Stone Bridge, a female student, identifying as transgender, recorded boys in a male locker room questioning her presence, with “one student expressing that he felt ‘uncomfortable’ about the situation,” Fox News reported.

Even though it is against the law to record in a locker room, the boys were investigated “for allegedly violating Policy 8040.”

The district’s transgender policy also violates new guidance from the Virginia Department of Education, which rescinded the 2021 transgender guidance and replaced it with “Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools.”

The new guidelines call for schools to respect parental rights and the safety and privacy of all students.

Despite a free-speech lawsuit, parental opposition, sexual assaults, invasion of students’ privacy by members of the opposite sex, violating state guidance, and now the threat of losing federal funding, the Loudoun County School Board stubbornly clings to Policy 8040.

At some point, you would think common sense and concern for the welfare of all students would prevail.

As the Department of Education’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said when charges were brought against the district,

“It’s time for Northern Virginia’s experiment with radical gender ideology and unlawful discrimination to come to an end. OCR’s investigation definitively shows that these five Virginia school districts have been trampling on the rights of students in the service of an extreme political ideology.”

Related Articles and Resources

Department of Education Launches Multiple Investigations Into Title IX Violations

Department of Education: Schools Embracing DEI Will Lose Funding

Department of Justice Launches Title IX Task Force to Protect Women’s Sports

DoEd Finds Northern Virginia School Districts Violated Title IX

‘Equipping Parents For Back-To-School’ – Updated Resource Empowers Parents

Irate Parents Excoriate Loudoun County Schools Superintendent and Board Over Sexual Abuse Coverup

New Education Secretary Linda McMahon: ‘Send Education to the States’

Trump Signs Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports and Spaces

Virginia School District Ignores Parents’ Opposition, Implements ‘Gender Identity’ Lessons

What’s Your School District’s ‘Transgender’ Policy?

Young Girls Shouldn’t Have to Be Brave

Our friends at Prager U, an organization founded to help educate and point students to truth, recently posted a video of a young girl speaking before a school board in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

At issue was the district’s “trans inclusive” policies – a politically correct term for rules and regulations pertaining to the sexually confused.

We don’t know the student’s name, but this young teen is seen addressing a group of what appears to be mostly middle-aged adults.

“Now you guys are probably thinking, ‘Well, I’m not going to listen to her because she’s what, a middleschooler?’” the girl begins. “Well, I’m on the student council and those younger kids who probably weren’t brave enough to be here, I’m afraid for them.”

Why?

“I don’t want them to have to walk into the bathroom and see someone of the opposite sex in there,” she testified. “That’s not right. That’s not how it’s supposed go. I know most people are like, ‘Well, that’s not a way it’s supposed to go.’”

In response to her testimony, Prager U posted, “She’s brave and we’re proud of her.”

This young woman certainly acted in a courageous manner and made a valiant case regarding the dangerous and foolish policy of allowing boys to go into girls’ bathrooms or locker rooms.

But this young girl shouldn’t have to be brave, at least not in this way. 

This middleschooler shouldn’t have to be standing up to the bullies, testifying before a board of adults who should know better and who should have intervened long before this youngster was placed in a position where she felt compelled to push back against the wickedness.

The “trans” issue in schools has been hotly debated for years now. Thanks to common sense policies from the Trump administration, progress against the danger has been made, but the lunacy still lives on in areas where radicals have wrested control.

Attention is often paid to the practical side of the outrageousness – who can use what bathrooms and where, who can compete in what sports and when. But not enough attention has been focused on what these battles have done to the hearts and minds of the otherwise well-adjusted young people caught in the crosshairs.

The loss of innocence has been widespread and profound. Childhood is brief enough. These radical prevaricators who are determined to upend norms and redefine reality are stealing and corrupting fleeting moments from our children and forcing the young to bear the heavy burden of issues they’re unprepared and ill-equipped to encounter.

That young Wisconsin girl shouldn’t have to be brave. She should be protected and shielded from the cultural insanity. She should be allowed to focus on the evolution of her studies and sports or other extracurricular activities, not on the politics of a destructive cultural revolution.  

When you steal a child’s innocence and thrust them into a cultural conversation surrounding sexual deviance, you’re robbing not just the child, but everyone else, too. That’s because thanks to the carefree days of childhood, young people dream, and those dreams take root, and those roots can run deep and produce wonderful fruit years into the future.

Yet, short-circuit childhood, force children to “grow up” early by filling their minds with perversion and nonsense, and you potentially lose those fertile and innocent  fields of development. Rush childhood and you run the risk of ruining adulthood, too.

Young girls and boys need courage and bravery, but better to learn to first be brave by falling asleep in the dark, jumping off a high diving board, or reciting a poem in front of a class. Childhood bravery should not involve testifying before a school board about the dangers of boys in girls’ bathrooms.

And let’s face it: this type of bravery is only needed in youth today because of the cowardice of adult school board members who refuse to protect the very children they’re directed and called to serve.

Image from Shutterstock