Education Secretary Linda McMahon warned this week that California and Minnesota risk losing federal funding if they continue allowing males who identify as female to compete in girls' sports and use female-only spaces.
McMahon made the remarks Wednesday on "The Alex Marlow Show," confirming that enforcement actions are underway.
Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Marlow asked McMahon about the Department of Education's late-January referral of Minnesota to the Department of Justice over alleged Title IX violations.
The department has also opened an investigation into California schools accused of withholding information from parents about students' so-called "gender transitions."
"We're continuing our investigations and [the states] are then becoming subject to having federal funding withdrawn because they are not in compliance with the law," McMahon said.
The warning follows President Donald Trump's February 2025 executive order titled "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports," fulfilling a key campaign promise.
The order states that under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, "educational institutions receiving Federal funds cannot deny women an equal opportunity to participate in sports."
The order further declares:
"Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women's sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth."
Trump also signed additional executive orders in January titled "Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government" and "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling."
"The president has made it very clear in his executive order that men are men and women are women, and men don't compete in women's sports," McMahon told Marlow.
"And for those states that are continuing to defy that, even in light of a Supreme Court ruling, they do have a risk now of losing their federal funding."
The Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases in January involving transgender athletes and state-level restrictions.
The court's 6-3 conservative majority is expected to issue rulings by summer.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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