The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation due to the state’s decision to allow transgender athletes to continue participating in women’s sports.

In February, the president signed an executive order aimed at ‘keeping men out of women’s sports,’ effectively barring transgender athletes from taking part in women’s divisions.

Despite this, transgender athletes have persisted in competing within California. Consequently, the Trump administration is now seeking an immediate injunction to halt this practice.

The lawsuit says that the state’s policies – which allows student-athletes to participate in sports ‘consistent with’ their gender identities- ‘eviscerate equal athletic opportunities for girls.

‘… They also require girls to share intimate spaces, such as locker rooms, with boys, causing a hostile educational environment that denies girls educational opportunities.’

Daily Mail has reached out to the California DOE and CIF for comment.

The lawsuit comes after California on Monday formally refused to comply with a demand from the Trump administration to sign a proposed resolution agreement on the issue. A federal civil rights investigation concluded last month that California had violated Title IX, a law forbidding sex discrimination based in education.

In a June 25 notice, the administration called for the state to ‘adopt biology-based definitions of the words ‘male’ and ‘female.”  

Trump has previously threatened to withhold federal funding from the state. and Education Secretary Linda McMahon said on X that California would ‘be hearing from’ Attorney General Pam Bondi after learning of the rejection of the resolution agreement, which had a deadline of July 7.

Federal officials opened an investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation in February after the organization said it would abide by a state law allowing athletes to compete on teams consistent with their gender identity. 

In April, McMahon’s department opened an investigation into the California Department of Education over the same issue. Both investigations concluded that state policies violated Title IX.

While Trump has made the issue of trans athletes in women’s sports a core issue of his second campaign, California has continued to flout federal demands under Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom admitted at an event on Tuesday that trans athletes competing in women’s sports was not fair, but criticized how conservatives talk about the community.

‘My position is that I don’t think it’s fair, but I also think it’s demeaning to talk down to people, and to belittle the trans community,’ he said. And I don’t like the way the right wing talks about the trans community. These people just want to survive.”

There was fierce backlash in the state when AB Hernandez, a biological male, claimed gold in the high jump and triple jump at the California Interscholastic Federation state finals at the end of May.

The junior from Jurupa Valley High School also won a triple jump competition by nearly three feet at the Roosevelt International in California back in March.

Hernandez’s participation in women’s sports has drawn furious protests from parents.

There was also an instance of a trans high school basketball player dominating in the women’s division back in February – after Trump had signed his order banning trans athletes from women’s sports.

However, the athlete did not appear in their team’s playoff game later that month amid protests from some parents. 

Trump has also clashed with Maine, as he had a now-infamous run-in with Democratic governor Janet Mills back in February.

During a White House meeting, she told Trump ‘see you in court’ over his threat to withdraw federal funding if Maine did not comply with his trans sports ban.

Maine is also currently being sued by the Department of Justice over its refusal to ban transgender athletes.

However, in the wake of pressure from Trump, some schools in Maine have elected to rescind policies stating that students can participate in sports based on their gender identity.

Last week, the University of Pennsylvania bowed to DOE by agreeing to resolve alleged Title IX violations over transgender former Quakers swimmer Lia Thomas.

Specifically, the DOE announced that Penn would be erasing Thomas from the school’s record books and adopting strict definitions for male and female competitors under White House guidelines.

Swimmers impacted by Thomas’ inclusion in women’s NCAA competitions are also set to receive a personal apology from Penn and be retroactively awarded records and titles.

The Ivy League institution’s decision comes after the Trump administration suspended $175 million in federal funding to Penn.