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California鈥檚 schools and colleges receive billions in federal funding each year 鈥� money that President Donald Trump is threatening to terminate over the actions of one student. AB Hernandez, a junior from Jurupa Valley High School, is transgender, and on May 31 she won first- and second-place medals at the state track and field championship.

鈥淎 Biological Male competed in California Girls State Finals, WINNING BIG, despite the fact that they were warned by me not to do so,鈥� Trump said in last week. 鈥淎s Governor Gavin Newscum (sic) fully understands, large scale fines will be imposed!!!鈥�

Despite this post and a similar threat a few days earlier to withhold from California, Trump lacks the authority to change the state鈥檚 policy toward transgender athletes without an act of Congress or a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. And recent court cases suggest that Trump also may have a hard time withholding money from California.

California state law explicitly allows transgender students in its K-12 school districts to compete on the team that matches their preferred gender, but the Trump administration has issued multiple directives that restrict access to girls鈥� sports, including last week from the U.S. Department of Justice telling high schools to change their policies.

On Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta the Justice Department over its letter, saying it had 鈥渘o right to make such a demand.鈥�

鈥淟et鈥檚 be clear: sending a letter does not change the law,鈥� said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond to school districts. 鈥淭he DOJ鈥檚 letter to school districts does not announce any new federal law, and state law on this issue has remained unchanged since 2013.鈥� On Monday, Thurmond sent his own letter to the Trump administration, .

California receives for its low-income Title I schools, as well as over $1 billion for special education. At the college level, students receive billions in federal financial aid and federal loans. Even if Trump lacks the legal authority to change state law, he could still try to withhold funding from California, just like he tried with Maine. In February, Trump asked Maine Gov. Janet Mills if her state was going to comply with 鈥� which is not a law 鈥� that directed schools to bar transgender girls from certain sports. Mills said she鈥檇 comply with 鈥渟tate and federal laws,鈥� effectively .

The Trump administration has since tried to withhold funding from Maine, but have prevented it.

The NCAA vs. California state law

Trump made banning transgender youth athletes , and it鈥檚 remained a focal point for his administration this year. Nationally, Americans increasingly support restrictions on transgender athletes, according to from the Pew Research Center. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last year signed legislation, spoke out against transgender athletes in a podcast this March, to allow transgender girls to compete in girls鈥� sports.

Female athletes with higher levels of testosterone or with masculine characteristics have long faced scrutiny, biological testing and disqualification. Debates about who gets to participate in girls鈥� or women鈥檚 sports predate the Trump administration 鈥� and Newsom 鈥� and policies vary depending on the athletic institution.

In 2004, the International Olympic Committee officially in the sport that aligned with their gender identity, as long as the athlete had sex reassignment surgery, only to change that policy in 2015 and require hormone testing. In 2021, the committee changed the policy again, creating more inclusive guidelines but giving local athletic federations the power to create their own eligibility criteria.

Across California, youth leagues, private sports leagues and other independent athletic associations all have their own policies. Some allow transgender women and men to participate; some restrict who can compete. Some require 鈥渃onfirmation鈥� of a participant鈥檚 gender, such as a government ID or statements from health care professionals, while other associations take the athletes at their word.

California鈥檚 colleges and universities are to discriminate against transgender students but state law doesn鈥檛 provide any guidance beyond that. After the presidential executive order in February, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which independently regulates college sports, , prohibiting transgender women from competing and putting colleges in a bind. Roughly 60 California universities are part of the NCAA, including almost all of the UC and many Cal State campuses. Community colleges, which represent the bulk of the state鈥檚 undergraduates, are not part of the NCAA.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a strong argument (the NCAA rules) could violate state law and federal equal protection,鈥� said Elana Redfield, the federal policy director at UCLA鈥檚 , which studies LGBTQ+ issues.

Amy Bentley-Smith, a spokesperson for the California State University system, declined to comment about how the NCAA policy conflicts with state and federal regulations. She said the Cal State campuses abide by the NCAA rules 鈥� preventing transgender athletes from competing 鈥� while still following state and federal non-discrimination laws regarding trans students.

Stett Holbrook, a spokesperson for the University of California system, said the UC does not have a system-wide policy for transgender athletes. He did not respond to questions about whether the campuses abide by NCAA rules.

Unlike the NCAA, the California Community College Athletic Association allows transgender athletes to compete. A spokesperson for the association, Mike Robles, said he鈥檚 aware of the NCAA rules and the Trump administration鈥檚 priorities but he did not say whether the association will modify its own policy.

The U.S. Constitution is silent on trans students

In February, just days after the president鈥檚 inauguration and the executive order regarding transgender athletes, the U.S. Department of Education launched into San Jose State after a women鈥檚 volleyball player The education department has yet to provide an update on that investigation.

With the Trump administration’s focus now on CA K-12 school districts, the legal debate has intensified. In its letter to the state鈥檚 public schools last week, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said allowing transgender girls to compete in girls鈥� sports is 鈥渋n violation鈥� of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution and asked schools to change their policies.

But the U.S. Constitution doesn鈥檛 say anything about transgender athletes, at least not explicitly.

Instead, Dhillon is offering an interpretation of the Constitution, 鈥渨hich doesn鈥檛 carry the full force of law,鈥� Redfield said. The laws that do govern transgender athletes, such Title IX, aren鈥檛 clear about what schools should do, and the U.S. Supreme Court 鈥� the entity with the power to interpret federal law and the Constitution 鈥� has yet to decide on the matter.

That said, many lower level judges have already weighed in on whether the Constitution or Title IX law protects transgender students or athletes.鈥� are in favor of trans plaintiffs,鈥� Redfield said. 鈥淭he federal government is contradicting some pretty strong important precedent when they鈥檙e making these statements.鈥�

After Trump’s comments about AB Hernandez, the nonprofit entity that regulates high school sports, the California Interscholastic Federation, changed its policy, slightly. For the state鈥檚 track and field championship, the federation said it would implement , whereby AB Hernandez would share her award with any 鈥渂iological female鈥� that she beat. All 鈥渂iological female鈥澛� athletes below Hernandez would also move up in ranking.

On May 31, Hernandez shared the first-place podium twice and the second-place podium once, each time with her competitors smiling supportively, the San Francisco Chronicle .

A spokesperson for the governor, Izzy Gardon, said that approach is a 鈥渞easonable, respectful way to navigate a complex issue without compromising competitive fairness.鈥�

This article was and was republished under the license.

The first push came from the president, who on his first day in office calling for federal agencies to root out discrimination based on gender identity and expression, including in public schools. In February, the administration also for litigation filed in Connecticut by a group of high school runners who argue that their rights under Title IX were violated by the state鈥檚 policy of allowing trans girls to race against them.

Republicans picked up the gauntlet happily, with introducing bills to require K-12 athletes to compete in the gender category that they were assigned to at birth. Governors in , , and have all signed such laws, which have also passed in at least one chamber of state legislatures in , , , and . After a split between Republicans in South Dakota, Gov. Kristi Noem along the same lines.

Beneath the political stakes lie swiftly changing legal and cultural mores, which are themselves being reshaped by new discoveries on the biology of athletic performance. In all, the status of trans athletes 鈥� and particularly the question of whether trans females should be allowed to compete in the girls鈥� category in high school competitions 鈥� has been taken up by combatants on all sides of America’s ongoing debate over the politics of sex and gender. Meanwhile, as the fight moves from playing fields to legislative chambers and courtrooms, advocates are attempting to strike a compromise between the necessities of competitive fairness and inclusion.

That balance has begun to develop at the pinnacle of elite sport, with regulatory bodies like the and the reaching accommodations that allow trans women to participate under specific conditions 鈥� typically including measures to suppress their bodies鈥� production of testosterone, which is linked to performance attributes like speed, power, and endurance. But adolescence, when many trans children are still early in their social and physical transitions, is a far more ambiguous stage.

Joanna Harper, a sports researcher at England鈥檚 Loughborough University and herself a trans runner, observed that various proposals to address the issue for teenagers all come with downsides. In an interview, she set a goal of 鈥渂eing as inclusive as we can possibly be without destroying the competitive balance.鈥�

鈥淚t’s so hard,鈥� said Harper. 鈥淗ow do you tell a 15- or 16-year old that they have to go on hormone therapy to play sports? It’s an extraordinarily difficult thing to say, but for these very high-performing athletes, it does create a conundrum.鈥�

To others, one consideration supersedes all others: the need to welcome trans children into all aspects of school life, including sports. Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, the executive director of the advocacy group GLSEN (previously known as the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network), said that no claims around competitive fairness could justify treating trans students any different from their cisgender peers (i.e., those whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth).

鈥淭o use words from another civil rights fight, we know that anything separate is not equal. We know that when we start differentiating across lines of identity, young people will not be served by that.鈥�

A 鈥榩atchwork鈥� system

But according to Doriane Lambelet Coleman, sex differentiation is vital to the survival of women鈥檚 athletics. A professor at Duke Law School, Coleman is the co-director of the institution鈥檚 Center for Sports Law and Policy. She is also a former collegiate track champion who has worked in both American and international settings to develop anti-doping policies and rules determining eligibility for women鈥檚 competition.

Coleman that Title IX, which forbids sex-based discrimination across all federally funded educational programs, clearly mandates the segregation of athletes into categories according to sex-linked traits. Since its very purpose is to provide women and girls with the same access to athletic opportunity that boys have always enjoyed, forcing cisgender females to contend with rivals whose bodies lend them a competitive advantage effectively 鈥淸defeats] the purposes of the institution that is girls’ sport.鈥�

鈥淲e need legislation that affirms the commitment to girl’s and women’s sport, and specifically to this set-aside of separate-sex teams on the basis of biological sex,鈥� Coleman said. 鈥淚t was never in doubt before that that’s what separate-sex sport meant, but now that it is questioned, we need to re-affirm that commitment.鈥�

But Coleman also rejects the legal barriers being proposed and passed by Republicans, calling them overbroad. Some exceptions need to be drawn for trans girls and women who have undergone hormone treatment, or who transitioned before the onset of male puberty, she added.

The legislative push at the state level began almost exactly a year ago in Idaho, which flatly banned trans females from playing on girls鈥� teams at K-12 and post-secondary schools. In instances where doubt existed about an athlete鈥檚 biological sex, it would be resolved by an examination of 鈥渢he student鈥檚 reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels,鈥� the text read. (The law was by a federal judge last summer, and litigation is still pending.)

As the legislation moves through statehouses around the country, students are facing an increasingly divided picture of athletic eligibility. , 16 mostly socially progressive states currently allow trans girls to compete in the category that matches their gender identity. Among the rest, some require they take medically prescribed hormone therapy, some require them to adhere to their natal sex, and some offer no recommendation.

Willingham-Jaggers referred to the sharp differences between different jurisdictions as a 鈥減atchwork鈥� system that cries out for national clarification. In her view, that should come through the passage of the Equality Act, a federal bill that would amend existing civil rights law to prohibit discrimination in housing, education, and employment on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. The Act in February, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has already announced that it will be brought to the upper chamber for a vote.

Federal action is warranted because of the anxiety that trans students often feel about athletic participation, Willingham-Jaggers said. According to , over 10 percent of LGBT students feel discouraged from participating in sports because of their gender or sexual orientation. Forty-four percent of respondents said they avoided locker rooms because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable, 40 percent avoided gym or physical education classes, and 25 percent avoided athletic facilities.

“What happens when we discourage or intentionally exclude young people who are non-binary or transgender from sports [is that we] lock them out of all the positive effects that sports have on all young people 鈥� cis, trans, or non-binary,鈥� Willingham-Jaggers said. 鈥淲hat is right for all students is also right for trans students.鈥�

鈥業t鈥檚 no longer about sex鈥�

Given the tiny margins Democrats now hold in Congress, neither the Equality Act nor any other federal legislation centered on trans youth looks likely to pass this session. While the possibility of regulatory reform still exists 鈥� the Justice Department recently stating that LGBT students would be protected under existing civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination based on sex, including Title IX 鈥� policymakers and educators still face the question of how the rights of trans and cisgender girls can be reconciled when they come into conflict.

For some experts, hormone therapy is a necessary part of any solution, at least at the most competitive levels of women鈥檚 sport. In recognition of changing norms, leading regulatory bodies like the NCAA and International Olympic Committee have created policies that require trans females to undergo estrogen or testosterone-suppression therapy before they can become eligible for women鈥檚 events.

Though she condemns the outright bans now under consideration in U.S. legislatures, calling them politically motivated, Loughborough University鈥檚 Harper said it was 鈥減erfectly reasonable鈥� to place some restrictions on the participation of trans women in competitions.

As evidence, she cited the example of June Eastwood, a University of Montana runner who the first openly trans female to compete in a Division I cross-country meet. Eastwood completed the prescribed course of testosterone suppression during her transition, and generally proved a high-level if unspectacular performer in the women鈥檚 division. Had she not undergone the treatment, however, she might have easily dominated her sport; while running in the men鈥檚 category, Eastwood鈥檚 personal best in the 1500 meters was just a fraction of a second behind the women鈥檚 world record.

鈥淪uccessful trans girls who have gone through male puberty, who have experienced all the gains that gives them and are good at their sport, will simply be too good, too successful in girls’ sports, unless you require them go through hormone therapy,鈥� Harper said.

A less hypothetical case came during the 2016 Olympics, when all three medalists in the women鈥檚 800 meters event were either known or suspected to have that produces both X and Y chromosomes in women. With testosterone levels that far exceed that of typical female athletes, those runners to undergo treatment to reduce their testosterone in order to enter women鈥檚 events between the quarter-mile and the mile.

But what is possible at elite levels of competition might not be workable in high school. Not all trans children have access to hormone therapies, and requiring them as a prerequisite for athletic participation could inadvertently distort students鈥� decisions around gender transition. To make things even more complicated, Republican legislators in several states bans on minors receiving 鈥済ender-affirming health care,鈥� a treatment method that can recommend the use of puberty blockers and hormone replacement. In Arkansas, the first state to such a ban, Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued a veto on Monday only to the next day. If other states take the same approach, many transgender youth could be faced with a Catch-22 scenario: needing hormone therapy to compete in sports according to their gender identity, but being prohibited from receiving them.

All of it combines to make high school sports a particularly challenging space to adjudicate.

The best-known conflict within the realm of K-12 sports is now playing out in Connecticut, where have sued the state in federal court for permitting trans athletes to run track against cisgender girls. Between 2017 and 2019, those trans girls, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, combined to claim 15 state championship races. While former Attorney General William Barr formally backed the lawsuit, calling Connecticut鈥檚 policies 鈥渇undamentally unfair to female athletes,鈥� the Justice Department under President Biden .

In part, the debate hinges on interpretations of Title IX, which was enacted nearly a half-century ago with the express purpose of in educational settings like sports. At the time of its establishment, school districts and universities directed their athletic budgets overwhelmingly toward male sports, and the concept of transgender identity was mostly outside the mainstream. By some estimates, participation in girls鈥� sport has increased by over 1,000 percent in the decades since. At the same time, the law permits 鈥渟eparate teams for members of each sex where selection for such teams is based upon competitive skill.鈥�

Duke鈥檚 Coleman sees the increasing social acceptance of LGBT communities as a positive development, but warns that it likely will also generate more such cases if states like Connecticut don鈥檛 carefully insulate the category of cisgender girls. Otherwise, she argued, it could drift into something like an open division freely entered not only by trans girls, but also gender-fluid and nonbinary competitors, and even trans boys who are actively taking testosterone but still permitted to compete against females.

鈥淚t’s no longer about sex; it’s not about sex-linked hormones; and it’s not even about gender identity, since trans boys can stay in,鈥� Coleman said. 鈥淪o I can’t even describe that group anymore. And if you can’t describe that group, who’s going to fund it? And if people continue to fund it, how will it stand legally? It no longer has integrity or a purpose that we can identify because you’ve let everybody in, essentially.鈥�

Culture war fodder

Only a handful of states have so far restricted access to girl鈥檚 and women鈥檚 sports exclusively to natal females, and all are among the most Republican-leaning in the country. At the national level, Republican Senators and have both called for similar measures.

David Hopkins, a political scientist at Boston College whose research focuses on U.S. political parties, said that the GOP seems to be coalescing around the proposal out of a recognition that LGBT acceptance remains 鈥渁 controversial, uncomfortable issue for a lot of voters.鈥�

鈥淩epublican politicians, who are increasingly oriented toward cultural as opposed to economic causes, have been looking for ways to translate the culture war into policy and legislation,鈥� he continued. 鈥淪o much of the culture war is actually not about what the government does, but here’s a case where it can be.鈥�

While that much of President Biden鈥檚 agenda is reasonably popular, the polling also suggests an area of softness around the issue of trans athletes. According to a 2019 poll from Morning Consult, agreed that transgender women possessed an athletic edge over other women. , administered last month, found that 53 percent of registered voters supported a ban on trans athletes in women鈥檚 sports. Even among Democrats, just 42 percent of respondents said they would oppose such a ban, compared with 40 percent who would support it.

Aside from those figures, state-level Republicans are likely reading signs from former President Donald Trump, during his speech at February鈥檚 CPAC convention that 鈥渨omen鈥檚 sports as we know it [sic] will die鈥� if restrictions aren鈥檛 adopted. In the same way that some lawmakers adopted Trump鈥檚 hatred of the New York Times鈥檚 1619 Project, and are now its associated curriculum from use in public schools, they are now attaching themselves to another highly charged topic whose salience he has recently elevated.

But few if any elected Democrats have vocally opposed allowing trans women and girls to compete in sports according to their gender identity rather than their biological sex. Of the 16 states where official guidance recommends that course, all but one 鈥� Florida 鈥� has voted for the Democratic candidate in the last four presidential elections. This too reflects the partisan and geographic polarization at work, Hopkins argued.

鈥淵ou don’t have a faction in the Democratic Party that’s pushing back against that,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey’re not worrying about carrying Senate races in South Dakota or Arkansas anymore because they’re out of the game in those states. That has really contributed to the culture war polarization between the two parties: Neither party is really trying to compete in the parts of the country that, culturally, are on the other side.鈥�