Federal funding for school sports in New Hampshire will be shut off if the state’s interscholastic athletic association continues to allow biological males to compete against girls on the playing field, the federal Department of Education (DOE) confirmed in a statement to NHJournal on Monday.
That follows the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) decision to investigate alleged Title IX violations committed by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA).
OCR specifically singled out MIAA policy that states “students shall not be excluded from participation on a gender-specific sports team that is consistent with the student’s bona fide gender identity.”
In the Granite State, the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) is the governing body for sports competitions among all public high schools. While the organization declined to respond to repeated requests for comment, the NHIAA policy posted on its website includes similar language to the MIAA.
“The NHIAA has concluded that it would be fundamentally unjust and contrary to applicable State and Federal Law to preclude a student from participation on a gender-specific sports team that is consistent with the public gender identity of that student for all other purposes.”
The NHIAA’s claim that keeping biological males out of female sports would be “contrary to state law” is particularly confusing, given that New Hampshire passed a state law doing just that.
The investigation into Massachusetts’ top interscholastic sports organization comes after President Donald Trump’s signing of his “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order. The order reverses the Biden policy that overturned decades of settled Title IX policy recognizing two sexes and upholding protections for women.
In January, a federal judge blocked the Biden rule change, and then Trump ordered the federal government to return to the pre-Biden policy. Agencies like the Departments of Justice and Education are mandated with ensuring institutions receiving federal tax dollars honor Title IX-based male-female equality requirements governing competitive women’s sports.
Asked if NHIAA’s stated policy allowing biological males to compete against girls in school sports could result in federal funding being stripped, Acting DOE Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor indicated in a statement to NHJournal it will investigate any and all complaints.
“As President Trump made clear, any entity that receives taxpayer dollars and violates Title IX faces losing federal funding,” Trainor stated. “We encourage anyone enduring discrimination or retaliation because of a covered institution’s suspected Title IX violation to file a complaint with OCR.
“The Trump Education Department will continue to work to ensure schools and athletic associations across the country are in compliance with Title IX, and we welcome states to do the same.”
The NHIAA’s full policy regarding participation in sports by transgender athletes (Sect. 21: Policy Statement and School Recommendation Regarding Transgender Participation) can be found here.
The New Hampshire Department of Education released its own technical advisory addressing recent executive orders barring controversial Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies last week.
“As recipients of federal funding, New Hampshire school districts should carefully review these executive orders,” the advisory stated.
Exactly one year ago, a biologically male athlete from Kearsarge Regional School District made national news for winning first place at a state high-jump competition. Meanwhile, OCR cited injuries a biological male reportedly inflicted upon his female opponents during a Massachusetts high school basketball game as one of the reasons it is investigating MIAA policies.
New Hampshire Democrats who voted unanimously against passing the law and later cheered the court decisions have declined repeated requests for comment on Trump’s executive order. Polls show that nearly 80 percent of Americans support limiting girls sports to athletes who were identified as female at birth.
Meanwhile, the threat of potentially losing out on federal school sports funding may already be having real effects on New Hampshire competitions.
The biological male who claimed the top spot in last year’s girls’ high jump, Kearsarge Regional High School sophomore Maelle Jacques, has since quietly withdrawn from competition. As a result, Hanna Tomanyi, a Sanborn Regional High School senior, took first place in the girls’ high jump competition over the weekend at the Division 2 championships in Durham.
