Blue states are defying President Trump’s executive order banning trans-identifying males in female locker rooms and sports, putting public schools at risk of losing millions of dollars in federal funding.
The Trump administration has now warned Maine to ban biological males from competing in girls sports or risk losing federal funding, and will soon begin investigating Illinois public schools for continuing to allow biological males in female locker rooms and bathrooms.
“It’s like a game of chicken,” said Shannon Adcock, president of Awake Illinois, a parents and citizens organization. “And I think it’s going to be a big mistake for these blue states to call the bluff of the Trump administration because they are fully committed to these federal orders into these federal protections like Title IX.”
Mr. Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 5 rescinding all federal funding from “education programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities,” and establishing a policy banning male participation in female sports. The executive order followed Mr. Trump’s Jan. 20 order banning males who identify as female from accessing female locker rooms and bathrooms.
Democrat-led states, however, are largely ignoring the executive orders regarding transgender students, and are set to face off with the administration over federal funds that help keep public schools operating.
The impact could result in a huge financial hit for the nation’s public schools that defy Mr. Trump’s orders. Public elementary and secondary schools received more than $119 billion in federal funding last year.
The Trump administration determined last week that Maine is violating Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex.
The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into the state’s transgender policy after a biological male who identified as female won the state title in the girls’ high school pole vault championship in February.
The Trump administration ordered the state to retrain employees and took the rare step of rescinding nearly $200,000 in federal funding provided to Maine schools during the 2024-2025 school year.
The money is a fraction of the $250 million in federal funds Maine officials said their schools received last year from the federal government. But Maine could face much bigger federal cuts, along with other states defying Mr. Trump’s executive orders.
Public schools rely on federal funding to support low-income students, disabled students and programs for disadvantaged students, among other initiatives.
The Trump administration is also looking at Illinois, where an outraged mother of a female middle-school student accused the school principal and other officials of forcing her daughter and two other girls to change into their gym clothes in the presence of a biological male who identifies as female and uses their locker room.
Nicole Georgas, of Deerfield, filed a complaint with the Education Department’s office for civil rights. She told the Deerfield Public School Board the school principal, assistant principal and several other teachers reprimanded a group of girls for protesting over the presence of a male student who identified as female using their locker room while they changed for gym class. Ms. Georgas said the school officials “all came into the locker room, making [the girls] change into uniform,” while the male student was present.
The school board did not respond to an inquiry from The Washington Times.
According to Ms. Georgas, school officials offered to move her daughter into another physical education class so she could avoid using the locker room with the male student present. She refused.
“This is my daughter’s story, and the story of many other young girls who have been forced at a difficult age to do something they know and most adults know is wrong,” Ms. Georgas told the school board. “Do the right thing and give these girls their locker room and bathrooms back. Allowing biological males to access girls’ locker rooms sets a dangerous precedent that erodes the very foundation of female privacy and safety.”
Illinois is unlikely to change school policy allowing trans-identifying students to participate on sports teams and use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.
State guidance issued in 2021 prohibits schools from discriminating against a student based on their gender identity. The policy allows students to participate in sports and use the locker rooms and bathrooms that conform to their gender identity.
Gov. J.D. Pritzker, a longtime Trump critic, has declared Illinois a sanctuary state for LGBTQ-plus rights and said he won’t cooperate with the executive orders regarding trans individuals. In his annual address to the legislature delivered last month, Mr. Pritzker compared Mr. Trump to Adolf Hitler.
Mr. Pritzker and other defiant governors are backed by some education experts who say Mr. Trump’s executive orders conflict with federal laws and constitutional provisions and exceed the president’s authority.
The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law concluded the bathroom and locker room order “may have a negative impact on the health and well-being of transgender students, as well as create confusion and the threat of increased litigation for schools.”
Public sentiment could coerce some Democrat governors to shift state policy.
During his new podcast, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential hopeful, told conservative activist Charlie Kirk that allowing males to participate in female sports is “deeply unfair.”
A California law signed before Mr. Newsom became governor requires schools to allow students to play on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
