WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration is probing the California Community College Athletic Association over allegations that its transgender policy violates Title IX, The Daily Wire can first report.
The Title IX Special Investigations Team, a joint project of the Department of Education and the Department of Justice, has initiated an investigation into the association over its policy stating that “a trans[gender] female…or non-binary student-athlete who has completed at least one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment…may compete on a women’s team.”
That policy caused at least three female athletes to be discriminated against on the basis of sex, according to a complaint submitted to the Office of Civil Rights, since a male athlete was allowed to participate on the women’s volleyball team and use the women’s locker rooms at one of the member colleges during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
“The fact that a Community College Athletic Association has a ‘Transgender Participation Policy’ is a stunning indictment of our culture,” said Kimberly Richey, the assistant secretary for civil rights. “Women’s sports are for women. Yet California’s Governor Gavin Newsom — despite admitting the truth on a podcast — continues to put ideology above the safety of and fairness for his own students.”
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks outside the US Supreme Court on January 13, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images)
The complaint also alleges that the California Community College Athletic Association ignored female students’ when they raised concerns about the impact that male students have on female sports.
DOJ and the Education Department say that the association has an obligation to uphold Title IX’s sex-based protections, given that it receives federal financial assistance in California.
“The Trump Administration will not tolerate policies that erase women’s rights,”says Richey. “The Title IX SIT looks forward to investigating this matter to ensure every woman has equal access to educational programs and athletic opportunities—because fairness and safety are non-negotiable.”
DOJ and the Education Department created the Title IX Special Investigations Team in April 2025 in order to expedite enforcement of its investigations into incidents like this. In fact, the team’s first investigation was actually into the California Department of Education.
Richey’s comments about Newsom referenced the California governor’s remarks on the issue of fairness in women’s sports: in March 2025, when Charlie Kirk was a guest on Newsom’s podcast, Newsom distanced from the notion that men should be in women’s sports — something he has championed for years — calling the concept “deeply unfair.”
“Would you say no to men in female sports?”Kirk asked the California governor.
“I think it’s an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that,” Newsom responded. “It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair.”
The remark caught many politicos and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle by surprise, given that Newsom has celebrated his state’s law allowing boys in girls’ sports, and additionally celebrated when conservative groups failed to repeal that very law.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases dealing with men in women’s sports and spaces, West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox. The results of the cases will decided whether 27 states can keep laws in place protecting women’s privacy in bathrooms and other spaces.
“As we await the Supreme Court’s rulings in Little v. Hecox and State of West Virginia v. B.P.J., we remain steadfast in enforcing Title IX as it was intended, rooted in biological reality to ensure fairness, safety, and equal access to education programs for women and girls across our nation,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said on the steps of the court on Tuesday.
“As President Trump has made clear,” she added, “America is in its Golden Age, one where female students and athletes have equal access to fair and safe competitions and female-only intimate spaces, free from divisive and discriminatory ideologies.”
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