Happy New Year 2025

Tag: trans

Hiding kids’ ‘gender identity’ from parents is common in blue state fighting Trump on trans issues

More than 50 school districts in Maine have policies that allow minors to hide their gender identity from their parents, according to a new watchdog report.

Parents Defending Education (PDE), a grassroots organization tracking gender ideologies in schools across the country, filed public records requests to confirm that at least 57 of the state’s 192 school districts have policies excluding parents from knowing whether their children identify as another gender.

The report comes after President Donald Trump chastised Democrat Maine Gov. Janet Millis last week over her refusal to enforce Trump’s “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order.

TRUMP VOWS TO CUT OFF FEDERAL FUNDING TO MAINE OVER REFUSAL TO COMPLY WITH ‘NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS’ ORDER

President Trump and the Department of Education building. (Getty Images)

“It was totally unsurprising to see the governor of Maine go to the mat to keep males in women’s sports when over 50 school districts in Maine have written policies to deceive parents about their own child,” PDE spokesperson Erika Sanzi told Fox News Digital Friday.

“We have seen a groundswell of parents in Maine speaking out about this now that they are aware of it, and it is our hope that districts begin to roll back these policies, not only because of the executive orders from the Trump administration but because nearly 80% of their constituents oppose them,” she said.

In one example from the state’s largest district, Portland Public Schools, district policy on “transgender and gender expansive students” requires that if “a student and their parent or legal guardian do not agree with regard to the student’s gender identity or gender expression, the school shall abide by the wishes of the student with regard to their gender identity and gender expression while at school.

“School staff shall comply with the student’s wishes regarding disclosure of their transgender status to others, including but not limited to parents or guardians, students, volunteers or other school staff, unless the student has explicitly authorized the disclosure or unless legally required to do so.”

MAINE FEMALE ATHLETE ‘GRATEFUL’ FOR TRUMP’S FOCUS ON TRANS COMPETITORS AFTER LOCAL LEADERS ‘FAILED’ GIRLS

A student leads a group of demonstrators in Knoxville, Tenn., in protest of the state’s 2022 transgender athlete ban. (Saul Young/Knoxville News-Sentinel /USA Today)

Policies like Portland’s are also still in place after Trump signed an executive order at the end of January, “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” which states that “steering students toward surgical and chemical mutilation without parental consent or involvement or allowing males access to private spaces designated for females may contravene Federal laws that protect parental rights.”

Trump has already threatened to cut off Maine’s federal funding if it continues to defy his orders.

“I heard men are still playing in Maine,” Trump told to a gathering of Republican governors in Washington last week.

“I hate to tell you this, but we’re not going to give them any federal money. They are still saying, ‘We want men to play in women’s sports,’ and I cannot believe that they’re doing that. … So, we’re not going to give them any federal funding, none whatsoever, until they clean that up.”

MAINE STATE REP TALKS ‘EXTREME’ TRANSGENDER ATHLETE POLICY

President Donald Trump told Maine Gov. Janet Mills her state needs to comply with an executive order on transgender athletes in school sports during a Feb. 21, 2025, event at the White House. (Reuters Photos | Pool)

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Trump signed the executive order barring men from women’s sports earlier this month, which directs federal agencies to review grants, programs and policies that fail to align with efforts to block male participation in women’s sports “as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.” The order mandates strict enforcement of Title IX and threatens to revoke federal funding from noncompliant educational institutions and athletic organizations.

After the order, several other blue states indicated they would not be complying with it, including California and Minnesota.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Maine Department of Education for comment.

Jamie Joseph is a U.S. Politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering transgender and culture issues, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, and stateside legislative developments.

March 2, 2025
CA Christian girls’ team forced to face trans athlete in playoff basketball game

As California continues to defy President Donald Trump’s recent executive order forbidding trans athletes from competing in girls’ sports, the state’s residents will see the ramifications of that decision play out on a basketball court this week.

An upcoming high school girls’ basketball playoff game will feature an openly transgender athlete playing for San Francisco Waldorf against Cornerstone Christian on Saturday. The same trans athlete played for Waldorf’s girls’ volleyball team this past fall, prompting Stone Ridge Christian to forfeit a playoff match on Nov. 16.

However, Cornerstone Christian currently intends to play its upcoming game against the trans athlete.

“As long as the parents are on board with playing the game, we will support the girls’ hard work this season and play the game,” Cornerstone Christian athletic director Madison Alexander told Fox News Digital.

The team came to this decision after a meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

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The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is currently under investigation by Trump’s Department of Education (DOE) and Office of Civil Rights (OCR) for its defiance in following the president’s executive order as it continues to instruct schools to allow trans athletes to compete as women.

The DOE’s deputy general counsel, Candice Jackson, told Fox News Digital that the department will be monitoring the state’s girls’ basketball playoffs as it conducts its investigation.

“CIF sets the parameters under which schools compete in these playoffs, and they have responsibility as recipients of federal funds to comply with Title IX. OCR’s investigation into CIF is continuing as it appears that CIF’s disregard for Title IX is continuing,” Jackson said.

The CIF has not responded to a request for comment on the situation involving the upcoming playoff game. The CIF previously told Fox News Digital that it will continue to follow state legislation on the issue of trans athletes that has been in effect since 2014.

“The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law [Education Code section 221.5. (f)] which permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, consistent with the student’s gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records,” the statement reads.

TEEN GIRLS OPEN UP ON TRANS ATHLETE SCANDAL THAT TURNED THEIR HIGH SCHOOL INTO A CULTURE WAR BATTLEGROUND

A law called AB 1266 has been in effect since 2014 and gives California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to “participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.”

Many California residents have protested and threatened lawsuits against the state for its refusal to comply with Trump’s order.

On Friday, California lawmakers introduced three bills in the state legislature aimed to combat trans inclusion. One bill, which was introduced by Assemblymember Bill Essayli, focused specifically on sports. His bill would require that students use all school facilities to only play on sports teams based on their biological sex and not their gender identity, reversing AB 1266.

“We know the state of California is going to do everything it can to resist and avoid compliance with federal law, so it’s our role to try to force change at the state and local level,” Essayli said at a press conference outside the state Capitol building in Sacramento on Friday.

California State Assembly member Kate Sanchez previously announced on Jan. 7 that she is introducing her own bill to ban trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.

California’s enabling of trans athletes to compete with girls and women in the state has resulted in multiple controversies over the last year alone, as one lawsuit has already been filed against California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

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Parents at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, expanded their lawsuit to include Bonta after a girls’ cross-country runner lost her varsity spot to a trans athlete, and then the school administrators allegedly compared the girls’ “Save Girls’ Sports” T-shirts to swastikas.

In San Diego, a middle school was recently thrust into local controversy because of a transgender student using the girls’ locker room. San Elijo Middle School provided a statement to Fox News Digital, crediting its enabling of the transgender student to access the girls’ locker room to the school’s obligation of following state law.

San Francisco Waldorf found itself in a national controversy over the subject after the volleyball playoffs back in November when Stone Ridge Christian forfeited. Former NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines then honored Stone Ridge Christian for its decision to forfeit with a ceremony at their high school in early December.

Trump’s executive order vows to cut federal funding for any institution that enables trans athletes to compete against girls and women. According to USA Facts, California public schools receive about $16.8 billion per year, which is 13.9% or one in every seven dollars of public school funding, which is well above the national average.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 19, 2025
First openly gay DC federal judge rakes Trump admin over military trans ban

The first openly gay federal judge in D.C. spent hours Tuesday grilling the Trump administration over its attempt to codify terms of service for transgender service members in the U.S. military, seeking to determine the extent of potential harm to transgender military personnel.

At issue is a Jan. 27 executive order signed by President Donald Trump requiring the Defense Department to update its guidance regarding “trans-identifying medical standards for military service,” and to “rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.”

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyers harshly questioned the Trump administration at length over the order, demanding to know whether it was a “transgender ban” and if the government’s position is that being transgender is an “ideology.”

Civil rights groups sued earlier this month to block the order on behalf of six transgender U.S. service members, arguing that the order is both discriminatory and unconstitutional, and alleging it threatens U.S. national security, as well as years of training and financial investments made by the Department of Defense.

JUDGE DENIES DEMOCRAT-LED EFFORT TO BLOCK DOGE ACCESS, CITING LACK OF PROVEN HARM

E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse is seen after former President Donald Trump’s arraignment on August 3, 2023, in Washington, D.C. ((Photo by Sha Hanting/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images))

Tuesday’s court hearing focused largely on how, or to what extent, the order might cause harm to transgender service members. While Trump has instructed that “radical gender ideology” be banned from all military branches, the executive order stopped short of detailing how the Pentagon should do this, prompting a flurry of questions and concerns from plaintiffs and the judge.

Reyes, a Biden appointee and first openly gay member of the D.C. federal bench, spent much of the hearing Tuesday asking how the order would be implemented and whether the transgender service members named in the lawsuit would be removed from their roles or separated from their units.

LAWSUIT TRACKER: NEW RESISTANCE BATTLING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM THROUGH ONSLAUGHT OF LAWSUITS TAKING AIM AT EOS

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivers remarks during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon on Feb. 5 in Arlington, Va. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Can we agree that the greatest fighting force that world history has ever seen is not going to be impacted in any way by less than 1% of soldiers using a different pronoun than others might want to call them,” she asked Lynch.

At another point in the hearing, she challenged lawyers for the Justice Department to find her a declarant or any commissioned officer who would get on the stand and tell the court that they’ve been harmed by the pronoun use of transgender military members.

“I’ll get you a box of cigars,” Reyes told Lynch.

“If you can find someone who will tell me we’re less prepared because we have to use pronouns for a few thousand people… have at it.”

DOGE SCORES BIG COURT WIN, ALLOWED ACCESS DATA ON 3 FEDERAL AGENCIES

Aerial view of the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2024. Home to the US Defense Department, the Pentagon is one of the world’s largest office buildings. (DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

Lych noted in response that the administration is still awaiting further guidance on the terms of the transgender executive order, which will determine its impact on personnel, including the six transgender plaintiffs named in the case.

That answer did little to assuage concerns of Judge Reyes, who told Lynch the government must inform the court by Wednesday whether they can ensure that the named service members would not be removed from their roles in the military or face discrimination as a direct result of the executive order.

Should they fail to do that, the judge said, the court will reconvene Friday to consider plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order.

Beyond the facts of the case, Reyes did little to disguise her displeasure with the order itself.

At one point during the hearing, she posed a hypothetical to the Justice Department’s attorney, asking: “If you were in a foxhole” with another service member, “you wouldn’t care about their gender ideology, right?”

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She went on to suggest Lynch would be happy to be next to someone with their commendations and bravery.

Lynch agreed he doubted that gender identity would be on his mind in that situation.

Breanne Deppisch is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI, and other national news.

February 18, 2025
Former NCAA trans athlete ‘willing to’ sit with Trump amid calls for title to be stripped

CeCe Telfer won an NCAA title as a transgender woman in 2019, and recently said on CNN that the “anti-trans rhetoric has become louder, more in my face” ever since President Donald Trump was sworn in last month.

Earlier this month, the president signed an executive order that would prohibit transgender girls and women from competing against biological females in athletics. The Department of Education has also called for prior titles won by trans women to be stripped.

“Prior to this set-in-stone administration, I woke up every day and I faced adversaries when I leave my house. Now, I wake up every day and I have to make sure that I make it home alive,” Telfer said, adding that “each of my identities” as a Black trans woman is a “target.”

“It’s really sad to see people go out of their way to make it known you don’t belong here. But every day, I wake up, I decide to go out and live my life, (it) proves that I do belong here. And just existing is resilience.

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CeCe Telfer of Franklin Pierce wins the 400 meter hurdles during the Division II Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at Javelina Stadium on May 25, 2019 in Kingsville, Texas. (Rudy Gonzalez/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

“It’s sad to see that one of the most powerful countries in the world would ostracize and de-humanize a group of people, a small group of athletes, too, but also as transgender women overall. I’ve done nothing wrong but try to be a good, contributing member of society,” Telfer added. “I pay my taxes. I go to school. I try to leave the world better than when I came into it. And if the president doesn’t see us, then we’ll make ourselves be seen and known with goodness and love, because that’s all we have to offer.”

As the Trump administration continues to fight to keep biological males out of women’s sports, Telfer is “willing to sit down” with “Trump himself” about his order and transgenderism in sports.

“I’m willing to sit down with the IOC, the USATF, the NCAA, with any of my international federations, even the Trump administration, Trump himself, if he wants to sit down with me and talk and have a human conversation and see me. I feel as though social media is very loud, and just to have a human sit across from you and have a conversation with them, it’s very different. So I’m willing to have a conversation if they’re willing to give me that chance,” Telfer said.

Cece Telfer attends Corey O’Brien’s “Everyone Loves Corey” at The Comedy Chateau on November 02, 2023 in North Hollywood, California. (Victoria Sirakova/Getty Images for Corey O’Brien)

MASSACHUSETTS REP BLASTS REPUBLICANS FOR ‘WEAPONIZING’ TRANSGENDER ATHLETES: ‘POLITICS AT ITS WORST’

“I need some explanation as to why you want to completely eradicate us from society when we’ve done nothing wrong. Think about the humanity and think about the younger kids like me who have doctors confirming their gender, have people behind them. Even if he wants to have a team go around with me and see my day-to-day life and what I go through as a transgender female athlete, all for it.”

Telfer added that despite the perceived increase in anti-trans rhetoric, and calls for titles won by trans athletes to be revoked, the title Telfer won is even more vindicated, “because it makes me feel like not only was history made then, but it’ll stay in the books and be reminded that policies and orders are not forever, but our resilience is.”

“If somebody’s truly a part of the Department of Education, they would be smart and educated enough to know that something like that, that’s not how history works, and that’s not how the direction of progressiveness works. You can’t take back history,” Telfer said, adding the NCAA was “pressured” to change their rules and follow suit with Trump’s order.

“They were on the right side of history — I don’t know what happened,” Telfer added.

US President Donald Trump signs the No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order into law in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 5, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

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Telfer was ruled ineligible to compete at the U.S. Olympic trials in 2021, two years after taking home the 2019 Division II Women’s 400m hurdles title.

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February 18, 2025
ESPN star Stephen A Smith makes stance on trans inclusion in women’s sports clear

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ESPN star Stephen A. Smith made his stance on trans inclusion in girls and women’s sports clear during an interview on radio row in New Orleans ahead of Super Bowl LIX.

Smith appeared in an interview for Bloomberg last week to talk about his political aspirations. The clip was published on Saturday. He said he considered himself to be a “centrist” when it came to political leanings, but when it came to trans athletes playing in women’s sports, that’s where he took a different line.

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Sadie Schreiner holds a transgender flag after finishing third in the finals of the 200m race at the NCAA DIII outdoor track and field championships on May 25, 2024. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“So that’s how I look at it. LGBTQ rights and all that stuff, I’m in full support of that, but when transgender athletes, men are transitioning to women and they’re competing in female sports, that’s a different animal to me,” he said.

“That’s not just about LGBTQ rights. That’s about prying on the rights of females out there everywhere who were born female, and they’re at a decided disadvantage.”

Smith’s stance came as President Donald Trump signed an executive order to bar transgender athletes from competing against women and girls.

CA LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE BILL PROTECTING GIRLS FROM TRANS ATHLETES AFTER STATE REFUSES TO FOLLOW TRUMP’S ORDER

Stephen A. Smith on the ESPN NBA Countdown live set at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, on Oct. 23, 2024. (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)

The NCAA followed Trump’s executive order and changed its policy.

Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick for education secretary, also said she didn’t believe trans athletes should compete against women and girls in sports.

“I do not believe that biological boys should be able to compete against girls in sports, and I think now that certainly not only have the people spoken, because that was something that Trump ran very heavily on, but I believe the court has spoken,” McMahon said.

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President Donald Trump signs an executive order barring transgender female athletes from competing in women’s or girls’ sporting events, in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CWA) legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls and women’s bathrooms,” as important to them. And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was “very important.”

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.

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February 16, 2025
Trans migrant finding sanctuary in NYC accused of raping 14-year-old

A transgender woman wanted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is accused of stalking and raping a 14-year-old boy in New York City.

Nicol Suarez, a 30-year-old trans migrant from Colombia, was arrested Wednesday after allegedly following the child into the bathroom of a bodega across the street from Thomas Jefferson Park and attacking him, according to a report in the New York Post.

The boy was able to leave the bathroom and flag down witnesses after the attack, resulting in Suarez’s arrest the next day.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTS SKYROCKET UNDER TRUMP ICE COMPARED TO BIDEN LEVELS LAST YEAR: ‘WORST OF THE WORST’

Thomas Jefferson Park in East Harlem, New York CIty. (Google Street View)

Suarez was already wanted in both New Jersey and Massachusetts at the time of the crime, the report notes, while ICE had a detainer on the Colombian migrant, the agency’s way of requesting that any law enforcement agencies that arrest the suspect hold him to be turned over to federal authorities.

That detainer means ICE could quickly deport the individual if local authorities cooperate, a source told the New York Post.

“It just goes to show that Donald Trump and [border czar] Tom Homan are correct that you need to get the violent people out of New York City and Eric Adams, Letitia James and Kathy Hochul should all cooperate because this person has an ICE detainer,” the source said.

TRUMP’S ICE LIMITS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT RELEASES AMID MOVES TO SHAKE OFF BIDEN ‘HANGOVER’

New York City mayor Eric Adams (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

“ICE could just pick this person up and deport them back,” the source continued, adding that New York City’s “sanctuary laws” will mean local police “can’t do anything.”

Prosecutors asked for $500,000 bail and $1.5 million bond for Suarez, according to the report, a number that was shot down by Judge Elizabeth Shamahs, who settled on a $100,000 bail or $250,000 bond.

But the source believes the amount shows that the city is still not concerned with the true victims of migrant crimes.

Migrants line up outside a re-ticketing center on Jan. 5, 2024, in Manhattan. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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“I feel really bad for the kid that has to go through this because his life will never be the same,” the source said. “We worry about the migrants but what about the victim? This is a true victim.”

Michael Lee is a writer for Fox News. Prior to joining Fox News, Michael worked for the Washington Examiner, Bongino.com, and Unbiased America. He has covered politics for more than eight years.

February 16, 2025
CA lawmakers introduce bill protecting girls from trans athletes after state refuses to follow Trump’s order

After California took a stance refusing to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order banning trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, state Republicans are taking matters into their own hands.

On Friday, California lawmakers introduced three bills in the state legislature aimed to combat trans inclusion. One bill, which was introduced by Assemblymember Bill Essayli, focused specifically on sports. His bill would require that students use all school facilities only play on sports teams based on their biological sex and not their gender identity.

“We know the state of California is going to do everything it can to resist and avoid compliance with federal law, so it’s our role to try to force change at the state and local level,” Essayli said at a press conference outside the state capital building in Sacramento Friday.

Former San Jose State University volleyball coach, who was suspended and then let go from the program after filing a Title IX complaint over the school’s handling of a trans player last season, spoke at Friday’s press conference just days after her home was shot at. Batie-Smoose told Fox News Digital she believes she was “targetted.” Police have not determined a suspect or motive.

“We need to make sure there’s DNA testing and moving forward there’s only women playing in women’s sports,” Batie-Smoose said at the press conference. “We definitely need to continue this fight and make sure that laws and legislation is changed so that we can have safe spaces for women and women in sports.”

Essayli’s bill would reverse a current law in California that protects trans athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.

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A law called AB 1266 has been in effect since 2014, and gives California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to “participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.”

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said it will continue to follow that law, even after Trump’s executive order went into effect, in a previous statement provided to Fox News Digital.

The U.S. Department of Education announced earlier this week that it is launching a Title IX investigation into the CIF over potential Title IX violations for its refusal to comply with Trump’s order.

In addition, residents have held protests and threatened lawsuits in response to the CIF’s current stance.

Essayli’s bill is the second proposal that California has seen to address the issue in 2025 alone.

California State Assembly member Kate Sanchez announced on Jan. 7 that she is introducing a bill to ban trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.

Sanchez will propose the Protect Girls’ Sports Act to the state legislature. Currently, 25 states have similar laws in effect.

TEEN GIRLS OPEN UP ON TRANS ATHLETE SCANDAL THAT TURNED THEIR HIGH SCHOOL INTO A CULTURE WAR BATTLEGROUND

“Young women who have spent years training and sacrificing to compete at the highest level are now forced to compete against individuals with undeniable biological advantages. It’s not just unfair – it’s disheartening and dangerous,” Sanchez said in a statement announcing the bill.

California’s enabling of trans athletes to compete with girls and women in the state has resulted in multiple controversies over the issue over the last year alone. Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, is currently embroiled in one of the most contentious local controversies on the issue.

A school board meeting by the Riverside Unified School District on Dec. 19 featured a parade of parents berating the board for allowing a trans athlete on the Martin Luther King girls’ cross-country team. A lawsuit filed by two girls on the team alleges that their T-shirts in protest of that player were compared to swastikas simply because they said “Save Girls Sports.”

The father of a girl who lost her varsity spot to the trans athlete previously told Fox News Digital that his daughter and other girls at the school were told “transgenders have more rights than cisgenders” by school administrators when they protested the athlete’s participation.

In San Diego, a middle school was recently thrust into local controversy because of a transgender student using the girls’ locker room. San Elijo Middle School previously provided a statement to Fox News Digital, crediting its enabling of the transgender student to access the girls’ locker room to the school’s obligation of following state law.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted against a measure to carry out the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would prevent trans athletes from competing in girls’ sports or entering girls’ locker rooms, despite pleas from multiple parents at the meeting to take action to protect the girls at the school.

Meanwhile, Stone Ridge Christian High School’s girls’ volleyball team was scheduled to face San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament but forfeited in an announcement just before the match over the presence of a trans athlete on the team.

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Transgender athlete supporter Kyle Harp, left, of Riverside holds the progress pride flag as “Save Girls Sports” supporters Lori Lopez and her dad Pete Pickering, both of Riverside, listen to the debate as they join the overflow crowd converging outside the Riverside Unified School District meeting Thursday night to debate the rights of transgender athletes to compete in high school sports Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Before that, a transgender volleyball player was booed and harassed at an Oct. 12 match between Notre Dame Belmont in Belmont, California, against Half Moon Bay High School, according to ABC 7. Half Moon Bay rostered the transgender athlete.

The two other bills that were introduced Friday, by Essayli and freshman Assemblymember Leticia Castillo, focus on empowering parents to remove their children from settings and situations that promote transgender ideology in public schools.

“Reestablishing the primacy of parental rights over dangerous indoctrination is a critical first step in reestablishing trust in our schools and educators,” Castillo said Friday.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 14, 2025
Trump’s ‘two sexes’ order spurs state-level efforts to crack down on trans treatments for minors

Several states emboldened by President Donald Trump’s executive orders are moving to introduce bills banning transgender medical care for minors, and one legal expert believes it’s a “continuation” of the success other states have achieved in the last several years fighting against the Biden administration.

“You go back to 2020, when Idaho became the first state to pass a save women’s sports law, and in 2021, Arkansas was the first state to protect kids from dangerous gender transition, drugs and surgeries,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Matt Sharp told Fox News Digital in an interview. “And since that time, we’ve had over 25 states pass both of those laws, plus other measures to protect women’s privacy and safety and schools or women’s shelters or correctional facilities.”

“So, what we are seeing is truly the continuation of incredible work by state legislatures and others to address the concerns of gender ideology and make sure that women and children in their states are not being harmed by it,” he said.

TRUMP’S ‘TWO SEXES’ EXECUTIVE ORDER COMES ON HEELS OF SCOTUS ACCEPTING ANOTHER CHALLENGE TO LGBT AGENDA

US President Donald Trump signs the No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order into law in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 5, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)

So far this year, several states have introduced or considered legislation to ban transgender medical procedures for minors. More than two dozen states already have laws in place restricting such procedures.

Alabama recently passed a bill in the Senate aiming to legally define gender based on one’s biological sex, in line with Trump’s “two sexes” declaration. Georgia’s state Senate also passed a bill this week that would cut state funding for transgender surgical treatments, extending to both minors and adults. The bill aims to block state funds for state employee and university health insurance plans, Medicaid, and the state’s prison system.

Some states are still rebelling against Trump’s orders. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, vetoed a bill this week that would have prohibited state funds from being used on gender transition treatments and procedures on minors and allow civil actions against healthcare providers conducting such treatments.

Despite Trump’s executive orders, Democratic attorneys general from 15 states – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin – issued a joint statement this month doubling down on their support for transgender procedures for minors.

LGBT ACTIVISTS MOBILIZE TO CHALLENGE TRUMP’S ‘EXTREME GENDER IDEOLOGY’ EXECUTIVE ORDERS

Activists hold a rally outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., as the court hears oral arguments in the transgender treatments case Skrmetti vs. U.S. on Dec. 4, 2024. (Fox News Digital)

The executive orders, signed in late January, include a reinstatement of the ban on transgender troops in the military, a ban on federal funding for sex changes for minors and a directive requiring federal agencies to recognize only “two sexes,” male and female, in official standard of conduct.

“What these executive orders represent is a 180-degree turn from that, rather than the federal government trying to push this dangerous ideology and being an adversary of states and their efforts to protect women and girls, you know, have an ally at the federal government,” Sharp, who filed one of the first state cases against a Connecticut policy allowing men to compete in women’s sports in 2020, said.

Sharp described Trump’s executive orders as a “return to normalcy.”

“What we saw starting a new Obama administration and continuing in the Biden administration, I think was trying to erase sex and replace it with the concept of gender identity,” he said. “And I think Americans have seen that. They’ve seen the harm that’s caused to countless young women, to young children, pushed to do irreparable damage to their bodies through these gender transition drugs and surgeries to even families who have had their rights violated by policies that were hiding information, lying to parents about a child who was experiencing distress over their sex and gender.”

TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDERS BANNING ‘RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY,’ DEI INITIATIVES IN THE MILITARY

President Joe Biden speaks at the Pride Month celebration on the South Lawn of the White House on June 10, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

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While the Trump White House has made its stance on gender-related issues clear, the U.S. Supreme Court will determine a critical ruling this summer on whether the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, which guarantees equal treatment under the law for individuals in similar circumstances, prevents states from banning medical providers from offering puberty blockers and hormone treatments to children seeking transgender surgical procedures.

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.

February 14, 2025
Title IX complaint filed against RIT for rostering trans athlete Sadie Schreiner

The Concerned Women for America (CWA) has filed a Title IX complaint against the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) for allowing trans athlete Sadie Schreiner to compete on the women’s track and field team, Fox News Digital has learned.

The CWA has filed its complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, which has recently launched investigations into other institutions for potential Title IX violations, including San Jose State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and high school athletic associations in Massachussetts, Minnesota and California.

CWA CEO and President Penny Nance provided a statement to Fox News Digital, elaborating on the complaint.

“Rochester Institute of Technology continues to violate Title IX anti-discrimination rules for male and female teams by rostering a trans-identifying male on its women’s track team. RIT makes the excuse it is following the NCAA’s Transgender Participation Policy (TPP) but that policy is not federal law and, in fact, does not comply with Title IX. The NCAA does not have the authority to re-define the meaning of sex under federal law for participation on male and female teams,” Nance said.

“Though RIT publicly claims it is following NCAA policy, its duty under the law is to follow Title IX. Educational institutions cannot hide behind the NCAA for its willful violations of women’s civil rights. Neither the NCAA’s previous policy nor its revised policy announced on February 6, 2025, fully protects women’s sports for women only as required under Title IX regulations which differentiate male and female teams on the basis of sex.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to RIT for comment.

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Sadie Schreiner races to qualify in the 400m race at the 2024 NCAA DIII outdoor track and field championships at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium on May 24, 2024, in Myrtle Beach, SC. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

An RIT spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital that Schreiner isn’t participating in future events, as the program is complying with the NCAA’s new policy that reflects President Donald Trump’s recent executive order that bans trans athletes from women’s sports.

“We continue to follow the NCAA participation policy for transgender student-athletes following the Trump administration’s executive order. Sadie is not participating in the next meet,” the spokesperson said.

However, RIT has not confirmed to Fox News Digital whether Schreiner has been removed from the roster and is no longer practicing with the team. Schreiner still has a player profile page on the team’s official website.

The NCAA’s policy also states that a biological male can still practice on a women’s team and “receive benefits.”

“A student-athlete assigned male at birth may practice on an NCAA women’s team and receive all other benefits applicable to student-athletes,” the policy reads.

President Donald Trump signed the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order last week, which cuts federal funding for any institution that allows trans athletes to compete in women’s sports.

Schreiner currently holds multiple school records in women’s track, including as RIT’s women’s indoor track record holder in the 200-, 300-, and 400-meter dashes,5 and RIT’s women’s outdoor record holder in the 200- and 400- meter dashes.

Schreiner has been a prominent controversial figure in women’s track and field this past year, especially after an appearance at the 2024 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship in May.

TEEN GIRLS OPEN UP ON TRANS ATHLETE SCANDAL THAT TURNED THEIR HIGH SCHOOL INTO A CULTURE WAR BATTLEGROUND

Earlier that month, Schreiner competed at the Liberty League Championship and won both the women’s 200- and 400-meter, breaking the 400-meter record in the process. Schreiner would have finished last by more than two seconds if the athlete had put up the same performance in the men’s competition.

Recently, in late January, Schreiner bragged after winning an event against female opponents.

“Not the race I was looking for at all this week, my spikes nearly fell off on the turn and with a poor start my time wasn’t nearly what I wanted,” the RIT runner wrote in an Instagram post.

“The good news is that the season just started, and I’m going to leave everything on the track at nationals,” Schreiner added with a transgender pride flag emoji.

On Jan. 17, Schreiner took first place in the 200- and 400-meter dashes at the Brockport Friday Night Rust Buster, taking top spots over two female seniors. In the 200-meter dash Schreiner beat RIT teammate Caroline Hill by 1.5 seconds and took first place honors in the 400-meter dash from Brockport’s Marissa Wise by nearly 3.5 seconds. Schreiner’s results achieved automatic qualification for the All-Atlantic Regional Track and Field Championships.

On Jan. 24, Schreiner took first place in the 200-meter dash at the RIT Friday Meet, beating out Liberty League junior Lexi Rodriguez of Brockport with an even faster time. On Jan. 30, Schreiner took first place in the 200- and 400-meter dashes against Liberty League opponents.

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Sadie Schreiner sports a transgender flag before heading to the awards stand after finishing 3rd in the finals of the 200m race at the 2024 NCAA DIII outdoor track and field championships at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium on May 25, 2024, in Myrtle Beach, SC. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images). (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Schreiner also made it a point to speak out against states and colleges that were not offering the trans athlete a full scholarship when Schreiner wanted to transfer, in December. The athlete blamed laws in 25 states that prohibit trans athletes from competing with girls and women.

“Among all the hurdles transfers usually have, there is an extra layer because it is trans, 50% of the country banned me from participating and that meant I couldn’t attend any of those colleges even if they reached out to me with a full ride,” Schreiner said.

“It also became clear that states that did, no matter how adamant the coaches were to have me on their teams, the college administrations would usually stop them from allowing me to participate.”

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 14, 2025
Linda McMahon speaks out on protecting women and girls from trans athletes during confirmation hearing

Linda McMahon made her stance clear on trans inclusion in women’s and girls’ sports during her confirmation hearing for education secretary on Thursday.

“I do not believe that biological boys should be able to compete against girls in sports, and I think now that certainly not only have the people spoken, because that was something that Trump ran very heavily on, but I believe the court has spoken,” McMahon said.

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Linda McMahon speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 18, 2024. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CWA) legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls and women’s bathrooms,” as important to them. And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was “very important.”

Trump vowed during his 2024 campaign to ban trans athletes from women’s and girls’ sports. Trump made good on that promise early when he signed the No Men in Women’s Sports executive order on Feb. 5.

Prior to that, the Supreme Court ruled in August to deny a Biden administration emergency request to enforce portions of the former president’s Title IX rewrites that would allow biological males in women’s and girls’ changing rooms.

HOW TRANSGENDERISM IN SPORTS SHIFTED THE 2024 ELECTION AND IGNITED A NATIONAL COUNTERCULTURE

And as McMahon looks to get confirmed as education secretary, she insists on carrying out the original mission of Title IX, and keeping women’s sports for biological females.

“We are really back to what Title IX was originally established to do and that was to protect social discrimination. Women should feel safe in their locker rooms. They should feel safe in their spaces. They shouldn’t have to be exposed to men undressing in front of them,” McMahon said Thursday.

“I heard one person the other day say, ‘Well, guys should just hold the shower curtain in front of them so that they aren’t exposing themselves.’ I mean really, that’s just not what we should be doing. We should be making sure that Title IX, which is the law, should be enforced.”

The Biden administration education secretary, Miguel Angel Cardona, supported allowing trans athletes to compete in women’s and girls’ sports.

Cardona helped draft the Title IX changes that would have prohibited blanket bans of transgender athletes on public school teams.

In a June 2021 interview with ESPN, Cardona said “transgender girls have a right to compete.”

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Linda McMahon testifies during her Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“Our LGBTQ students have endured more harassment than most other groups. It’s critically important that we stand with them and give them opportunities to engage in what every other child can engage in without harassment,” Cardona said.

“It’s their right as a student to participate in these activities. And we know sports does more than just put ribbons on the first-, second- and third-place winner,” he said. “We know that it provides opportunities for students to become a part of a team, to learn a lot about themselves, to set goals and reach them and to challenge themselves. Athletics provides that in our K-12 systems and in our colleges, and all students deserve an opportunity to engage in that.”

Now, under the Trump administration, there will be multiple layers of efforts to prevent trans athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports, and McMahon’s agenda will be one of those layers if she is confirmed.

A recent New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, do not think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports. Of the 2,128 people polled, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports.

Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democratic, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 13, 2025