Portland schools face civil rights probe over transgender athlete
The Education Department said its civil rights office is investigating the Portland, Oregon, school system for allowing a trans high school runner to compete in female sports and use girls’ locker rooms.
The U.S. Department of Education said on Tuesday its civil rights office is investigating the Portland, Oregon, school system for allowing a transgender high school runner to compete in female sports and use girls’ locker rooms.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights also said it is investigating the Oregon School Activities Association, which oversees high school sports in the state, and its policy of generally allowing transgender students to play gender-specific sports that do not correspond to their sex at birth.
Gender in schools has been a key issue for President Donald Trump and a hot-button topic around the country.
In a January executive order, Trump said the previous administration had “harmed women” by trying to extend protections under Title IX of the federal Civil Rights Act to transgender Americans, and Trump’s administration has spoken out against what it calls the “dangerous and unfair participation of men in women’s sports.”
“We will not allow the Portland Public Schools District or any other educational entity that receives federal funds to trample on the anti-discrimination protections that women and girls are guaranteed under law,” said Craig Trainor, the Department of Education’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights.
Rating: 5