A complaint filed with the Justice Department asks the Trump administration to cut off federal funding to Delaware or require the blue state to comply with the president’s executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
Delaware state Sen. Bryant Richardson and prominent sports attorney Thomas Neuberger, whose practice is located in Wilmington, asked the department’s Civil Rights Division to take action against the state over what they describe as its refusal to obey the executive order.
The order signed Feb. 5 requires institutions receiving federal funding, which includes most K-12 public schools, colleges and universities, to ensure that participation in girls’ and women’s sports is based on biological sex and not gender identity.
The Title IX complaint said that Mr. Neuberger contacted legal counsel for Delaware Education Secretary Cynthia Marten last month to see if the state plans to adhere to the order, asking for a reply by Tuesday. He said the deadline passed without a response.
“The deadline for respondents to comply was the close of business on March 4, 2025, after which it can reasonably be concluded that Delaware and its elected officials and political establishment have chosen not to comply with the EO,” said the complaint filed Tuesday.
Delaware hasn’t publicly declared its intent to defy the president’s order, unlike other Democrat-dominated states like California, Maine and Minnesota, but the state is friendly to transgender athletes.
The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association allows athletes to compete based on gender identity, a policy that the state Legislature has shown no interest in reversing.
Mr. Richardson, a Republican, has twice introduced bills aimed at barring male-born athletes who identify as female from competing in girls’ sports, but both times the measures died in committee, according to the complaint.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said last month that the president has directed the Justice and Education departments to “prioritize enforcement actions against athletic associations that deny girls and equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them to compete against boys.”
“This Complaint seeks just such a priority enforcement action against the Delaware respondents,” said the 12-page document shared with The Washington Times.
The complaint names as respondents the state and Ms. Marten as well as the Delaware Department of Education; the DIAA, and the Red Clay Consolidated School District Board of Education.
The Washington Times has reached out to the state Department of Education for comment.
