MSHSL Needs To Follow State Law, Not Trump's Executive Order: MN AG

ST. PAUL, MN — The Minnesota State High School League should follow the state law for its transgender athlete policy, rather than President Donald Trump's latest executive order on the issue, according to state Attorney General Keith Ellison.

Ellison's opinion follows a request from the MSHSL, which is under investigation by the Trump administration for allegedly failing to comply with federal law on transgender athletes in women’s and girls’ sports.

Ellison asserts that Trump’s recently signed executive order, "Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports," which bans transgender students from participating in extracurricular activities based on their gender identity, does not override anti-discrimination protections in the Minnesota Constitution or state law.

Ellison further states that complying with the executive order would violate the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

Find the full opinion on the Attorney General’s website.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced investigations into the MSHSL and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) for their transgender athlete policies.

Both sports leagues "publicly announced plans to violate federal antidiscrimination laws related to girls’ and women’s sports," the DOE claimed. "This includes the possibility of allowing male athletes to compete in women’s sports and use women’s intimate facilities."

"The Minnesota State High School League and the California Interscholastic Federation are free to engage in all the meaningless virtue-signaling that they want, but at the end of the day they must abide by federal law," said Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office Of Civil Rights (OCR) Craig Trainor.

Scrutiny from the federal government came after FOX 9 published the letter that MSHSL sent to its member schools regarding Trump's executive order.

The MSHSL recognized member schools for following state rules on transgender athletes and said it would review state laws in response to the new presidential executive order.

The Trump administration viewed this as an act of defiance, asserting that state laws cannot supersede federal anti-discrimination laws. Federal officials emphasized that these entities and their member schools remain subject to Title IX and its implementing regulations.

The Trump administration said they are reviewing athletic participation policies at a number of schools to evaluate their compliance with Title IX protections for female athletes.