Federal government accelerates Title IX investigation involving transgender high school athlete in Minnesota

The Champlin Park varsity softball team is at the center of the investigation after it won a state title on June 6

SBLive Sports

On Thursday, the federal government announced that they have accelerated its Title IX investigation after a "male" pitcher and the Champlin Park varsity softball team captured its first-ever Minnesota Class 4A state title on June 6.

In February, the U.S. Department of Education announced an investigation that involved transgender athletes and high school sports in Minnesota.

According to reports, a second investigation was launched a few weeks ago against the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) for allowing transgender athletes to play in women’s sports.

The pitcher, an all-tournament selection, pitched five games in a row and gave up one run in 35 innings. In the state title game against Bloomington Jefferson, the junior tossed a complete-game shutout and allowed three hits and no runs or walks with six strikeouts.

Earlier this season, three female softball players from Maple Grove High School and Farmington High School filed a lawsuit against Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. The suit argues that Champlin Park and the "male athlete" had an unfair advantage.

The probe, which will be conducted by a newly-formed Title IX special investigations team that includes personnel from the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice will enforce President Donald Trump’s executive order to “keep men out of women’s sports,” reports stated.

If the MSHSL and the Minnesota Department of Education are discovered to be noncompliant, both organizations could lose federal funding, although the MSHSL does not receive federal funding.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon provided a statement when announcing the elevated investigation:

“Minnesota’s continued indifference to females’ civil rights is completely unacceptable. We must ensure women and girls are not stripped of their hard-earned accolades or subjected to the danger and indignity of unfair competitions, and we will fight to restore anti-discrimination protections under Title IX to the fullest extent of the law.”

The MSHSL and the Minnesota Education Department did not respond to The New York Post’s request for comments.

However, according to Fox 9 KMSP in Minneapolis-St. Paul, AG Ellison has an ongoing lawsuit against the Trump Administration. The suit challenges President Trump’s executive order banning transgender athletes in women’s sports and threatening to cut off federal funding from states.

The deadline for the federal government’s response to the lawsuit is June 26.

The MSHSL and Minnesota Department of Education’s position coincides with the state’s human rights laws, which bans discrimination against gender identity and does not include conflicts with Title IX.

Fox 9 spoke to David Schultz, a professor with the Mitchell Hamline School of Law within Hamline University in St. Paul, who noted the state of interpretation with Title IX is “not completely clear.”

Schultz also said that the Trump Administration and the state of Minnesota have interpreted Title IX “very differently.”

“It comes down to the federal courts, including possibly the Supreme Court, to render the final interpretation of what Title IX actually requires or what it means,” Schultz told Fox 9.

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