A California school board voted to ban transgender athletes from competing in sports that don’t align with their biological sex.
The Kern County Board of Education voted on Tuesday to adopt a resolution related to Title IX, KBAK/KBFX reported.
Title IX is a federal law that requires equal opportunities for boys and girls in school sports and programs.
Under California law, transgender students can compete in sports that match their gender identity.
“Now, there be it resolved the Kern County Board of Education affirms it is for Title IX and calls on athletic governing bodies to uphold its protections by ensuring fairness in girls’ sports,” trustee Lori Cisneros said.
One supporter of the resolution offered a suggestion to transgender athletes.
“If they really want to do something, the people who are transgendered need to do the same thing that the woman did … where they develop their own athletics, that they compete against each other,” one man said at the board meeting.
A woman criticized the measure for targeting “marginalized” individuals.
“This resolution targets one marginalized group while ignoring real inequities. That’s a double standard and a distraction from genuine solutions. Protecting women means protecting all women, including trans women.”
The Kern County Board only oversees about 400 students in county-run alternative education programs, and those students don’t participate in school sports. The resolution does not impact sports in Kern’s 46 school districts.
“My message to the other school districts in Kern County is: Please follow our lead and protect girls. That’s the main purpose — to protect our students in girls’ sports,” Cisneros said, KERO reported.
Kern County joined other school boards across California that have supported similar motions to ban transgender athletes from girls’ sports.
The Redlands Unified School Board and the Chino Valley Unified School District also voted against transgender athletes in girls’ sports.
The Trump administration early last month filed court documents charging the state of California with violating federal law by allowing transgender athletes to compete in school sports.
The Justice Department, in its lawsuit, claims that the California Interscholastic Federation and the California Department of Education violated the civil rights of girls across California by not only allowing transgender students to participate in female athletic competition but also to share intimate spaces such as girls’ locker rooms.
President Donald Trump in May threatened to withhold federal funding from California over transgender women competing in women’s sports in a post on his Truth Social account.
The governing board in May for California high school sports changed its competition rules at its state track-and-field championships to allow more “biological female” athletes to take part amid controversy over the participation of a trans student-athlete.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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