After an executive order to ban transgender girls from playing on girls sports teams, the US Dept. of Education announced it would investigate the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association for a possible Title IX violation over an incident where a charter school claimed two players were injured in a game with a trans player on the opposing team.
However, Bay State Attorney General Andrea Campbell pushed back late last week, saying “Trump’s anti-trans agenda would [not] stop any student-athlete in Massachusetts from competing any time soon, and certainly not without a legal battle,” reported The Boston Globe.
Reports the Globe:
“Our state anti-discrimination laws, including those that protect transgender students and student-athletes, remain in effect and enforceable,” the AG’s office said in a statement to the Globe.
Trump’s Department of Education said on Thursday it would investigate the MIAA over possible Title IX violations, citing the example of a transgender student playing in a basketball game last February.
That followed Trump’s executive order that aims to remove everyone but cisgender males and cisgender females from playing fields at federally funded school programs. Trump’s Department of Education said it also would investigate San Jose State University’s volleyball program and the swim team at the University of Pennsylvania.
The MIAA said Friday it will continue to follow the law, “pending any determination by the courts of which law is applicable.”
The National Federation of State High School Associations, of which the MIAA is a member, said that “while recognizing that laws vary by state, [it] supports efforts to provide opportunities for all interested students to participate in scholastic athletics.”
Massachusetts state laws prohibit discrimination in schools based on race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin or sexual orientation. In 2012, gender identity was added to that list.
Russell D. Johnston, acting commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), sent a letter to state educators on Friday reminding them of that fact.
Addressing his letter to “superintendents, charter school leaders, leaders of collaboratives, and executive directors of approved special education schools,” Johnston said the state’s responsibility under the law to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for all students “is not impacted by recent executive orders at the federal level.”
Read the complete Boston Globe article here.
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