In a fresh crusade against trans rights, the Trump administration has formed a new “Title IX Special Investigations Team” to root out what they call the “pernicious effects of gender ideology” in schools—aka trans girls who want to play sports or use the bathroom in peace.
Announced Friday in a joint statement by the Departments of Education and Justice, the new team is pitched as a way to tackle a “staggering volume” of Title IX complaints. But critics say this is just a political smokescreen masking a discriminatory agenda. Title IX, the landmark 1972 law banning sex-based discrimination in federally funded education, is being weaponized in the name of “protecting” cisgender women—while actively harming transgender students.
The squad, made up of Department of Education investigators and DOJ attorneys, will launch investigations into schools that allow trans women and girls to participate in female sports or use women’s restrooms. Attorney General Pam Bondi proudly declared the team will use “the full power of the law” to combat threats to “women’s spaces.” Cue the eyeroll.
And who better to lead the school sports moral panic than WWE mogul-turned-Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who issued a dramatic warning to schools that support trans inclusion: “There’s a new sheriff in town.” Someone’s been watching too many reruns of “Walker, Texas Ranger.”
This new initiative follows Trump’s February executive order banning trans women and girls from competing in women’s sports altogether. More than half of U.S. states have already passed similar restrictions, despite there being fewer than 10 openly transgender athletes in the entire NCAA, according to the organization’s president.
Backlash from Advocates
LGBTQ advocates aren’t buying it. A GLAAD spokesperson called the move a “baseless plan” and said targeting trans athletes is a colossal waste of taxpayer money that does nothing to protect women. “These bans endanger all girls,” the spokesperson said, warning they could lead to invasive and humiliating “genital exams” for any athlete suspected of being trans.
And let’s be clear: this isn’t about protecting fairness in sports. It’s about using the power of the federal government to bully some of the most vulnerable students in America. By treating a handful of trans athletes like a national crisis, the administration is fueling moral panic and feeding its base at the expense of real kids’ lives.
The LGBTQ community is watching—and we won’t forget who stood up for us, and who tried to erase us from the playing field.