Trump accused of trying to 'shame and harass children' with trans legal action

The Trump administration has initiated legal action against Minnesota and its school athletics governing body, fulfilling a previous threat to penalise the state for permitting transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports.

This lawsuit forms part of a wider national debate surrounding the rights of transgender young people. Over two dozen US states have enacted legislation prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports, with some also banning gender-affirming surgeries for minors. Several of these policies have faced legal challenges and been blocked by courts.

Filed on Monday, the Justice Department’s lawsuit contends that the state’s Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League are in breach of Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programmes that receive federal funding.

"The Trump Administration does not tolerate flawed state policies that ignore biological reality and unfairly undermine girls on the playing field," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.

However, Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison dismissed the lawsuit as "a sad attempt to get attention" regarding an issue that has already been subject to litigation for months. He affirmed his commitment to continue fighting the action.

"It is astonishing that any president would try to target, shame, and harass children just trying to be themselves, let alone a president with so many actual problems to address," Mr Ellison stated.

Attorney General Pam Bondi AP/Alex Brandon

Tim Leighton, a spokesperson for the League, confirmed that it does not comment on threatened or pending lawsuits.

The administration has pursued similar legal challenges against Maine and California, and has threatened to withhold federal funding from several universities over transgender athletes, including San Jose State in California and the University of Pennsylvania.

Minnesota officials have consistently resisted federal pressure to ban transgender athletes from girls’ sports. Last April, Mr Ellison filed a preemptive lawsuit, arguing that Minnesota’s human rights act supersedes executive orders issued by President Donald Trump last year. That lawsuit also asserts the state’s compliance with Title IX, with a ruling pending on the federal government’s motion to dismiss the case.

In a statement, the Justice Department claimed Minnesota violates Title IX "by requiring girls to compete against boys in athletic competitions that are designated exclusively for girls and allowing boys to invade intimate spaces designated exclusively for girls, such as multi-person locker rooms and bathrooms."

To bolster its claims of an unfair advantage for transgender athletes, the lawsuit highlights the case of a transgender pitcher on the Champlin Park High School girls’ varsity fastpitch softball team, who contributed to the school’s 6-0 victory in a state championship game in 2025.

The Trump administration also overturned the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX, which had held that its provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex extended to gender identity.

According to the Justice Department, Minnesota’s Department of Education receives more than \$3bn annually in federal funding from the US departments of Education and Health and Human Services. This funding, it states, is contingent on compliance with Title IX.

The lawsuit requests a federal court in Minnesota to declare the state in violation of Title IX and to order it to prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ prep sports.

The civil rights offices at the Education and Health and Human Services departments had previously notified the state and the League last September that they faced legal action if they did not cease violating the federal law.