Trump admin investigates three Michigan schools over trans athlete participation
Donald Trump (Getty Images)
The US Department of Education has opened Title IX investigations into three Michigan school districts over allegations they allowed students to compete on sports teams and use locker rooms based on their gender identity.
The districts are Ann Arbor Public Schools, Monroe Public Schools and Chippewa Valley Schools.
According to a department press release, Ann Arbor allegedly allowed a transgender student to compete on the girls’ volleyball team, Monroe required its girls’ team to play against and share locker rooms with a team including a transgender student, and Chippewa Valley permitted a female athlete to use a male-only locker room.
“The convoluted practice of allowing students to participate on sex-segregated athletic teams and make use of locker rooms based on ‘gender identity’ is not only known to be unsafe for students, but is a direct violation of federal law,” assistant secretary for civil rights Kimberly Richey said, as per Chalkbeat Detroit.
Title IX is a federal civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools, which the Trump administration has used to target protections for transgender students.
A spokesperson for the Chippewa Valley district said it had not yet received the complaint and learned of the investigation through the media, adding that it would cooperate fully and remained “committed to providing a safe, supportive, and respectful learning environment for all students.” The Ann Arbor and Monroe districts did not immediately respond.
Trans athletes in school sports
Criticism of trans athletes competing against girls at school level is nothing new, and AB Hernandez has felt much of the brunt of it. Trump targeted her in a Truth Social post after a previous track and field event in California.
Hernandez is permitted to compete against cisgender girls under the California Interscholastic Federation’s (CIF) guidelines.
The guidelines mean that, if she qualifies to advance or gets a medal or spot on the podium, she will share the achievement with a cis girl who was behind her.
Her mother Nereyda has spoken in defence of her daughter, saying in August 2025: “My daughter is not the problem … This has nothing to do with fairness in sport and everything to do with erasing transgender children.”
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