By NIK STRENG/The Oregonian/OregonLive
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into Portland Public Schools and the statewide athletic governing body for allowing transgender student-athlete to compete in track and field.
The department announced Tuesday that it has contacted both the Portland school district and the Oregon School Activities Association, alleging that both are in violation of Title IX.
The Education Department claims that Portland Public Schools violated Title IX by allowing a transgender girl to compete at a March 9 track and field meet.
The meet, a Portland Interscholastic League icebreaker event to open the 2025 spring season, saw a transgender athlete from McDaniel High win both the 200-meter and 400-meter events. She also competed in the girls 4×100-meter relay, where the team finished second.
This is the second year in which Oregon’s high school sports scene has been put in the national spotlight for allowing a transgender student-athlete to compete in girls sports.
Last spring, the track runner from McDaniel High School received significant attention from news outlets on social media after competing in the Sherwood Need for Speed Classic. She went on to win Portland Interscholastic League championships in the girls 200 and 400 meters.
She would go on to win the Class 6A state championship in the 200 and was second in the 400. She was met with boos from the crowd when she won her race and accepted her medals. She is considered the first transgender student-athlete in Oregon to win an individual state title.
The Oregonian/OregonLive is not naming the student-athlete to protect her privacy.
In a statement sent out on Tuesday, Portland Public Schools Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong said the school district is fully aware of the complaint and is cooperating with the investigation.
“I stand firm in our legal responsibilities, and I deeply value every student’s right to be treated with dignity, safety, and respect,” said Armstrong. “PPS is in full compliance with Oregon state law, which may differ from federal guidance. We are actively working with our legal and state partners to navigate this complex legal landscape. While I am limited in what I can share at this time due to the sensitive nature of the matter and our duty to protect student privacy, I want to be clear: my commitment — and our district’s commitment — to doing what’s right for all students, especially those most vulnerable, remains unwavering.”
The Trump administration claims that the Oregon School Activities Association’s policy on gender identity participation (OSAA Handbook Policy 37) is also a violation of Title IX by forcing athletes assigned female at birth to compete against transgender girls.
The policy says, “The OSAA endeavors to allow students to participate for the athletic or activity program of their consistently asserted gender identity while providing a fair and safe environment for all students.”
Last year, in a response to Oregon lawmakers upset about the inclusion of a transgender student-athlete, OSAA Executive Director Peter Weber explained that the organization’s policy on inclusion must follow guidelines set forth by both the federal government, specifically the Biden administration, and the state.
He said a policy that might discriminate based on gender identity under Oregon law could lead to a loss in funding for schools.
OSAA’s Policy 39 was last revised in the 2019-20 school year, the last time President Donald Trump was in office.
In February, Trump signed an executive order requesting the secretary of education to take action against educational institutions and state athletic associations that allow transgender student-athletes to compete against women.
Weber told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Tuesday afternoon that the OSAA is consulting legal counsel before responding to the Department of Education.
- Nik Streng covers high school sports for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at nstreng@oregonian.com
There is no current issue that angers me more than this one. A vicious hate campaign targeting transgender people is being mounted for purely political purposes. I grew up Jewish and I have no hesitation saying that transgender people are the new Jews, and the people persecuting them are, in my opinion, hate mongers comparable to Germans in the 1930s.
There are ridiculously few transgender people competing in elite sports. The hate mongers raise the issue of fairness to those who are not transgender women, and completely ignore the balancing factor of inclusion, or letting kids play sports without having their genitals checked.
The issue isn’t the few elite athletes who are transgender. The issue is the countless number of kids in grade school and high school who aren’t openly transgender and whether they can play sports and live their lives like any other kids.
There is no legitimate excuse for persecuting people who are different than most of us. It is a reprehensible and despicable attack on some of the most vulnerable people around. Those mounting this campaign should be ashamed of themselves except they have no shame.
Hi Lee,
My name is Mark. I appreciate reading your comment, and I agree with your take on the particular characteristics of the persecution you are describing. The hatred with which it is often held is shocking. I was born and raised in post-war Berlin, Germany. What my parents and grandparents told me does justify the comparison you made (and I could still get furious and more about those events in my country of birth).
I want to understand one issue better – and maybe you can help me with that: Let’s say we have nine women and 1 transgender person – or 995 women and 5 transgender persons – and then we see that the transgender persons have a clearly visible advantage due to their different biological build. Why, in your view, is it so hard for major portions of the general public to discuss this – admittedly not easy – issue as friends, with dignity, with common sense, in a peaceful way, respectful of diverging opinions, and oriented towards a reasonable way forward that protects everyone’s rights?
Thank you,
Mark
A recent New York Times opinion column talked about the balance between fairness in athletic competition and fairness in including everyone who wants to participate in sports. A few years ago, A New Yorker article focusing on the athletics issue and transgender swimmer Lia Thomas essentially recommended letting various sports associations figure it out on their own because the advantage you speak of may or may not exist depending on the sport involved, and on to the extent to which hormone treatments have reduced the transgender woman’s muscle mass and strength and advantage.
In my opinion, the need to allow countless young people to participate in sports regardless of their gender without having their genitals checked at the schoolhouse door far outweighs the relatively uncommon cases of elite transgender athletes beating cisgender female competitors.
I will concede a personal bias, and that is when I was a kid many decades ago I was wimpy and uncoordinated and got hit in the face by just about every ball in every sport. I grew up despising competitive athletics and never ever watch any kind of games on television. I think our whole system of physical education is warped by focus on competition instead of on participation by all in getting healthy exercise.
Armstrong says: “I want to be clear: my commitment — and our district’s commitment — to doing what’s right for all students, especially those most vulnerable, remains unwavering.”
Is she is referring to the medal-winning transgender person as ‘most vulnerable’ …? If so, that doesn’t make any sense to me, because the other competing women are equally as vulnerable in a different way. What’s really most saddening, and also concerning, is the incredible divisiveness and hatred that this whole – admittedly difficult – discussion evokes in so many people.