Harrisburg, PA.
The declaration of the administration does not appoint Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer who competed for the Ivy League School in Philadelphia in 2022 and was the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title that year – a prize with which Thomas is now confronted.
But the investigation opened in February by the United States department office for civil rights focused on Thomas, which has become a leading symbol of transgender athletes and an eminent political target of the Republicans and President Donald Trump.
The Department said that Penn had violated title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in schools and colleges, “refusing women equal opportunities by allowing men to participate in women’s intercollegial athletics and to occupy intimate facilities reserved for women”.
Penn had no immediate comments on Monday, but Penn said in the past that he still followed the NCAA and the Ivy League policies concerning the participation of students in sports teams, both when Thomas has swam and currently.
The ministry said Penn had 10 days to voluntarily resolve violations or risk prosecution. The ministry wants Penn to publish a declaration saying that it will comply with title IX; Effectively reflect Thomas from all prices or records in the swimming competitions in division I; And excuse yourself with each swimmer “whose individual recognition is restored to apologize on behalf of the university for having enabled her educational experience in athletics to be spoiled by sex discrimination”.
The Trump administration in March suspended about $ 175 million in federal funding for Penn about its decision to leave Thomas Rivalizing, said the White House. The federal money of the Ivy League school came from the Department of Defense and the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
In 2022, the NCAA used a sports approach by sport to allow transgender athletes to participate, by postponing a national organization of governance of individual sport, an international federation or previous criteria of the International Olympic Committee.
Thomas contributed within the framework of these directives, which allowed transgender women who had finished one year of replacement hormone therapy to compete.
The NCAA changed its policy the day after the signing of an executive decree on February 5 which aimed to prohibit transgender athletes from participating in the sports of girls and women. This ended his sporting practice by sport in favor of a general policy which only allows athletes assigned to the birth of participating in female sports.
The Department of Education also opened exams of the San Jose State University Volleyball, Denver Public Schools, Portland Public Schools, Oregon School Activities Association and Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. He also continued the state of Maine to force him to prohibit transgender athletes for the sports of girls and women or prosecution.
