In March, 40 Illinois lawmakers sent a letter to the IHSA, saying “the federal government adopted policies under President Trump that clearly prohibit permitting biological men to compete against biological women in sports.
“It is our understanding the IHSA has communicated, prior to these orders, a policy that establishes a process for ‘transgender students whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth’ to seek eligibility for the opposite sex’s sport,” the letter continued.
“We are writing you to request that you provide a written response to the undersigned legislators detailing your intent to amend policy to comply with federal directives prohibiting athletes from participating in single-sex sports opposite of their sex assigned at birth,” the lawmakers said.
On Tuesday, April 15th, the IHSA responded, “The Illinois Attorney General and, more recently, the Illinois Department of Human Rights have asserted to the IHSA that the Illinois Human Rights Act requires that transgender athletes be permitted to participate in events and programs aligning with the gender with which they identify. As a result… compliance with the [President’s] Executive Order could place the IHSA out of compliance with the Illinois Human Rights Act and vice versa.”
IHSA Board President Dan Tulley, and IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson, who signed the letter, added, “The IHSA simply desires to comply with the law and takes no position on which of the foregoing is correct… Given the conflict described above, however, we are left in an untenable position.”
The IHSA clarified that its transgender policy only applied to state series competition with which it sponsors. Member schools determine the participation of transgender students during the regular season.
Trump found during the campaign that his pledge to “keep men out of women’s sports” resonated beyond the usual party lines. More than half the voters surveyed by AP VoteCast said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far.
Already, transgender people have sued over several of the policies and are likely to challenge more of them in court.
Civil rights lawyers who are handling the cases have asserted that in some instances, Trump’s orders violate laws adopted by Congress and protections in the Constitution – and that they overstep the authority of the president.
Last week, the Department of Education referred an investigation into Maine schools to the Justice Department after the Trump administration said it violated federal anti-discrimination law by allowing biological male students to participate in girls’ sports.
The department said it would investigate whether to stop federal funding for Maine’s education department.
“Where federal and state law conflict, states and state entities are required to follow federal law,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote, referring to Title IX, the federal civil rights law against sex discrimination that the Trump White House says prohibits trans athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s teams. Bondi promised legal action against states that refuse to comply with Trump’s order.
According to WGN, the IHSA says of the 320,000 student-athletes competing in all IHSA sports at all levels, only three people born male asked for and received waivers to compete in girls’ sports last year.
The American Civil Liberties Union said the issue had only come up a few times in Illinois because state law specifically allows people to access bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports based on their gender identity.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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