A national debate over Title IX enforcement continues as the Trump administration investigates schools and universities that allow transgender students to compete in women’s sports.
Critics argue federal officials are neglecting other core protections under the law.
The Trump administration maintains that allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports violates the law’s protections for women and girls. In February 2025, President Donald Trump signed the Keep Men Out of Women’s Sports executive order.
Title IX, the 1972 federal statute prohibiting sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs, has become a focal point in disputes over athletics and student safety.
In an exclusive interview with The Center Square, Caius Willingham, senior policy analyst at Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE), said the shift in enforcement priorities undermines the broader purpose of the statute.
“It is inexcusable for the Trump administration to investigate trans athletes when they’re failing to live up to their responsibility under the federal law to enforce other provisions of Title IX,” Willingham told The Center Square.
Willingham argues that policies restricting transgender participation in sports and access to facilities harm both transgender and cisgender individuals by increasing scrutiny, harassment and invasive investigations.
Willingham said there’s “no scientific consensus that transgender women athletes have an advantage in sports that would justify any claim that they are somehow outcompeting cisgender athletes.”
Describing the national debate as “a moral panic fueled by misinformation and hate mongering,” Willingham added that it presents a false choice between the safety of trans people and the comfort of cisgender people.
Federal officials and conservative advocacy organizations argue the opposite. U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said recent federal policy changes are necessary for protecting women and girls.
“We have seen the consequences of the Biden administration’s advocacy of a radical transgender agenda,” McMahon said. “Institutions stripped women and girls of their access to fair competition and dignified private facilities. They forced women into unfair and humiliating situations that have led to sexual assault, harassment, and in some cases, permanent injury. To say the least, the last four years have been hell for these girls.”
McMahon said the administration is working with organizations, including Alliance Defending Freedom and Do No Harm, to restore what McMahon called an understanding of sex grounded in biological distinctions.
At a recent congressional session on legislation concerning women’s sports, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., criticized the inclusion of gender identity within Title IX interpretations.
“Cisgender is a made-up word. That means nothing. Do not call me cisgender. I am a woman,” Hageman said.
Advocates for stricter enforcement say allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports discriminates against female students.
A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on related Title IX questions is pending, and education officials across the country are awaiting further guidance on how federal law will be interpreted.
