Biological Boys in Women’s Sports: Women and Student Athletes Address California Interscholastic Federation Board Meeting

Despite President Donald Trump’s executive order banning boys who identify as transgender women/girls from college women’s and high school girls’ sports teams, the governor and state of California haven’t budged from continuing to allow biological males to compete in girls sports – even with the threat of losing federal funding.

In the summer of 2023, a coalition of women and parents’ rights groups launched a campaign to counter California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) policies allowing boys to compete on girls’ sports teams in the more than 1,600 high schools across the state.

The California Interscholastic Federation governs high school sports in California, and has said it follows state law. The Coalition of Women and CIF High School Female Athletes seeking protection of girls’ rights to fair and safe sports appeared before the CIF Executive Committee meeting Thursday on this topic.

A little background for context is needed.

“Instead of standing for the rights of women, Biden caved to woke activists who wanted biological males to be treated as women in workplace showers, competitive sports, prisons, and rape shelters,” President Trump’s executive order says. “All executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall review grants to educational programs and, where appropriate, rescind funding to programs that fail to comply with the policy established in this order.”

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS is the title of President Trump’s order.

Shortly after President Trump’s order was issued, ABC 10 reported Feb. 7th, “California resists Trump’s order banning transgender women, girls in school sports:”

“The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law [Education Code section 221.5. (f)] which permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, consistent with the student’s gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records,” a spokesperson told ABC10 in an emailed statement.”

“Consistent with their gender identity.” Think about that statement. The children still in K-12 school – kids who eat paste, watch cartoons, and who are dependent on parents for food – kids living under their parents’ roofs, are being allowed by the state of California to determine their gender identity.

And adults within the education system, the CIF and state of California, think that is rational, realistic or even legal?

These same children are not legally allowed to get a tattoo or use a tanning booth. They can’t buy cigarettes. But they are choosing their gender identity?

This is madness and it is evil.

Education Code 221.5(f) states, “A pupil shall be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.” [emphasis added, the Globe]

Additionally, as the Trump administration explained in the executive order, it was the Biden Administration which made radical changes to Title IX:

• The Biden Administration ignored the integrity of women’s sports and sex-equality under the 1972 landmark sex-discrimination Title IX law in the name of “inclusivity.”
• On his first day in office, Biden signed an Executive Order calling on schools across the country to allow students to compete in the sport of their “gender identity.”
• On the 50^th anniversary of Title IX, Biden’s Department of Education “issued a new rule” which redefined the word “women.”
  • This move “opened sex-segregated spaces like bathrooms, locker rooms, dorm rooms and single-sex admissions programs to anyone who identifies as a woman” and removed “commonsense” student protections in “campus sexual assault and harassment proceedings.”

Thursday, the CIF held an executive committee meeting and allowed the Coalition of Women and CIF High School Female Athletes to address biological males participating in women and girls sports. They got an earful from women, moms, parents, and female student athletes – primarily about how unsafe it is for female athletes when teen boys and young men are allowed to compete in sports against teen girls and young women, because of the above education code and CIF policy.

 

Several of the women speakers noted that California Governor Gavin Newsom even stated in his new podcast with Charlie Kirk that it was “deeply unfair” to have trans athletes competing against women in sports. However, the governor made no policy changes and did not call for a ban.

“It is deeply unfair to allow biological boys to participate in girls sports,” Charlotte said.

Genevieve said she is the mother to 4 sons and one daughter, and witnessed daily the biological differences in her boys and girl, and by allowing boys to compete against girls is “risking injuries to the female athletes.”

“It’s not hate to say it’s unfair – it’s fact,” she added.

Meg asked the CIF members if they realized what this policy was doing to the boys, letting them believe “that they can become girls or that they are girls.”

She said that this policy is actually hurting boys who are more effeminate, or shy and soft-spoken, or autistic, or are struggling with same-sex attractions. “Yesterday was ‘De-Transition Awareness Day. Many of them say they were pulled into this at school. Many were actually medically treated through the school.”

“You are hurting people, not helping them,” Meg added.

A mother of five told the CIF board that even one boy on a girls team affects all of the girls on a team. “The tide is turning. You are on the wrong side of this issue,” she said. She acknowledged that the CIF likely had good intentions behind their policy, “but good intentions do not make good policy.”

“You are robbing girls of opportunity. Read the room, read the data and do the right thing,” the mom of 5 said.

Rachel said she supports women’s athletics and said, “I encourage you to reverse your policy” to the CIF.

Carol read a statement from a father whose daughter is an Alpine ski racer in high school. At a recent event, the event winner was a trans biological boy who beat all of the girls.

Jordan is a high school athlete and runs track and cross-country. She implored the CIF to understand that the issue is about fairness and safe competition. She warned that the injuries to female athletes are increasing. “How many more injuries will it take for women and young girls to feel safe?” she asked.

She said the boys have more physical advantages, are more muscular, stronger, faster, and “no young women should have to feel they aren’t safe. Women’s safety matters,” she added.

Beth said she participated in CIF sports in the late 1980’s, and held up a graphic poster board listing a few news stories about biological males participating in women’s sports, always winning against the women and girls.

“It’s making the national news what you are doing to girls sports,” she said. She said there are 3 biological boys competing in girls’ sports at Davis High School. The girls were told not to speak out about it under threat of punishment. “It’s even unfair to boys that you are lying to them,” she said. “Say something when you know something is wrong.”

In February, Fox 11 reported that Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R-Riverside), introduced a bill to require that students use all school facilities to only play on sports teams based on their biological sex and not their gender identity. “We know the state of California is going to do everything it can to resist and avoid compliance with federal law, so it’s our role to try to force change at the state and local level,” Essayli said.

Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez has introduced a bill to ban trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports – the “Protect Girls’ Sports Act. Sanchez’s proposed law will also override the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) bylaw that states “All students should have the opportunity to participate in CIF activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s records.”

Two other bills that were introduced by Essayli and Assemblywoman Leticia Castillo, focus on empowering parents to remove their children from settings and situations that promote transgender ideology in public schools.

“Reestablishing the primacy of parental rights over dangerous indoctrination is a critical first step in reestablishing trust in our schools and educators,” Castillo said.

President Trump’s Executive Order:

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order keeping men out of women’s sports.

• The Executive Order upholds the promise of Title IX and ends the dangerous and unfair participation of men in women’s sports.
  • The order requires DOJ to abide by the nationwide vacatur of the previous Administration’s illegal Title IX rewrite that would have dissolved single-sex spaces and opportunities.
  • The order also requires immediate action, including enforcement actions, against schools and athletic associations comprised of schools that deny women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms.
• The Executive Order calls for the convening of private sporting bodies in the White House to hear, in person, the stories of female athletes who suffer life-long injuries, who have been silenced and forced to shower with men, and whose hard work has been cast aside due to the biological advantage of males.
• The Executive Order directs State attorneys general to identify best practices for ensuring equal opportunities for women in sports and to highlight impact stories of women harmed by male athletes competing in women’s sports.
• The Secretary of State will demand changes within the International Olympic Committee to preserve single-sex sports, a necessity for safety and fairness.
• The Department of Homeland Security will review visa policies to address males falsely asserting they are females when entering the United States to compete in women’s sports.