Delaware is the latest state to come under fire for upholding a policy that allows student-athletes to compete on a team that aligns with their gender identity. Some lawmakers in Delaware have filed a federal complaint to end transgender athlete participation in the state, despite the fact that there is not a single transgender student-athlete currently competing.
According to WHYY News, state officials claim there hasn’t been a transgender student-athlete in years, if ever.
The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA) and the state’s largest school district, Red Clay Consolidated, are the leaders of Delaware’s current transgender student-athlete policy that allows student to play on teams that match their gender identity.
However, Sen. Bryant Richardson’s complaint “asks the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to investigate the state’s compliance with federal law, the U.S. Constitution and a new executive order from President Donald Trump.”
If Delaware does not comply, the state would risk losing all federal education funding similar to the situation its neighbor to the North, Maine, currently finds itself in.
Related: Maine Officially Charged with Federal Title IX Violation Over Trans Student-Athlete Participation
Richardson’s complaint comes just days after President Trump addressed Congress and discussed the administration’s current transgender student-athlete policy, saying, “From now on, schools will kick the men off the girls’ team or they will lose all federal funding.’’
Nick Merlino, the spokesperson for Delaware’s governor Matt Meyer, released a statement on the governor’s position. “Gov. Meyer doesn’t believe that trans girls should be playing in girls’ sports, but ultimately he defers those decisions to the leagues and localities.”
For years, the DIAA policy has required transgender student-athletes to meet certain requirements prior to competition. The athletes needed to provide revised birth certificates or driver’s licenses proving a “legal recognition of the students reassigned sex.” And, DIAA also required a doctor’s certification that the student has indeed “transitioned to the reassigned sex.” On top of both of these requirements, the schools were allowed to make the final decision on whether the student-athlete could compete.
As recently as October 2024, the DIAA had reportedly relaxed some of those requirements. David Baylor, the executive director of the DIAA said, “the revised policy essentially makes participation in Delaware school sports a ‘gender neutral’ matter.”
Despite the robust policy from DIAA, Baylor told WHYY News that there are currently no transgender student-athletes on Delaware school teams and no one has approached the DIAA to complain about the policy.
