Washington state is in violation of federal law that protects girls’ sports and private spaces, a local school board claimed in a Title IX complaint this week.
The Kennewick School District board of directors filed a Title IX complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights this week, claiming that state policies which allow “biological males to compete in girls’ sports and use female locker rooms directly violate federal law, undermine Title IX, and jeopardize critical federal funding.”
“The state’s reckless policies allow biological males to compete against female athletes, directly violating federal law, and stripping young women of the opportunity to compete on a fair playing field,” the Kennewick board said in a press release. “The consequences are undeniable: last year, a high school male athlete in Washington State stole the 2A girls’ state track title, unfairly altering the championship outcome and this athlete continues competing today.”
Kennewick filed the complaint against Washington State Superintendent Chris Reykdal, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. Since President Donald Trump passed an executive order in February that restricts biological males from participating in girls sports or entering private female spaces, Washington school boards have sought clarity on the conflict between federal guidance and state law, which mandates so-called “gender-inclusive” policies in schools.
“When Trump signed the executive order in February, we felt like that was a good time to really kind of start getting the ball rolling again on trying to get some clarification on the federal guidance and the state guidance, and push back,” Kennewick board president Gabe Galbraith told National Review. “We started working with a coalition of other schools in the state, trying to get everybody to do something within their local jurisdiction to push back. And we decided that a federal complaint was an actionable request.”
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association did not respond to a request for comment on the complaint. Superintendent Reykdal said in a statement that “an executive order is not law, and it does not override state law.”