California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office has responded to a Department of Justice investigation into the state’s policies allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports, defending the state’s laws. The investigation marks a significant escalation in the national debate over transgender inclusion in athletics following President Donald Trump’s threats to cut federal funding for California over the issue. Bonta’s office has stated its commitment to upholding California’s laws that protect transgender students from discrimination, emphasizing the importance of their rights in school environments.
The DOJ’s involvement in this matter comes one day after Trump threatened to pull funding from the state for allowing a trans athlete to compete in a girls track and field championship. This move adds to the existing pressures on California officials, as the federal government continues to scrutinize the state’s stance on transgender athletes in schools. Bonta’s public statement to Fox News Digital reflects the broader political and social tensions surrounding this issue, with the attorney general firmly standing behind the state’s policies.
The investigation is linked to a lawsuit filed by the families of two girls from Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California. The lawsuit alleges that a trans athlete, AB Hernandez of Jurupa Valley High School, was given a varsity spot on the cross-country team, displacing one of the girls. The families argue that the school’s administrators compared their ‘Save Girls Sports’ T-shirts to swastikas, suggesting a level of hostility toward the families’ position. The legal action seeks to challenge California’s current law, which allows trans athletes to compete as girls, a policy that has been in place since 2014.
Adding to the complexity of the situation, the U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) for openly defying the