In summary
Redlands Unified school board can’t legally ban transgender athletes, but a majority of its board voted for a resolution opposing them anyway.
The Redland Unified School District Board approved a resolution to enforce “fairness in girls’ interscholastic sports,” placing the Inland Empire district in the middle of escalating conflicts over transgender students’ rights.
In a 3-2 split vote last week, the board approved a statement “ensuring fairness, safety and equal opportunities for all student-athletes.”
While the resolution doesn’t specifically mention transgender students, it states that “biological differences between male and female athletes can create inherent advantages in sports, particularly in categories designated specifically for girls.”
That language appears to slip through the cracks between California law — which protects the rights of transgender student athletes — and federal policy under President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order in February banning transgender women and girls from women’s sports.
Redlands School Board Member Candy Olson voted for the resolution, saying that as a student athlete, she was “far behind the boys” while training for a triathlon.
“You would have to be an absolute science denier to say that the boys and the girls are of equal strength and of equal speed,” she said.
Christine Stephens, a spokesperson for the school district, said the resolution was a statement of opinion and wouldn’t affect how the district’s athletic programs operate.
“A board resolution expresses a viewpoint or intent through a formal statement,” Stephens said. “They do not change how the district operates or impose enforceable rules. Regardless of the action taken by the board … the district’s legal responsibility to follow all applicable state and federal laws remain unchanged.”
A 2013 California law requires public schools to ensure that students can participate in all school activities and sports teams that match their gender identity.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said in a statement to CalMatters that it will monitor the situation and noted that Redlands Unified already has a track record of civil rights complaints.
Last May, Bonta obtained a court order directing the district to address “allegations and complaints of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse of students.” A month earlier, the district reached a $45.5 million settlement of 16 sexual abuse lawsuits from former students.
Kel O’Hara, a senior attorney for Equal Rights Advocates, a San Francisco-based gender justice organization, said that even if the resolution is never enforced, the intention to exclude trans students will be harmful.
“Discriminating against trans students has really negative implications for their mental health and academic outcomes,” they said.
By framing the resolution as an injunction against boys in girls’ sports, O’Hara said, the board quietly invalidated transgender girls’ identity: “That rhetoric that these are just boys and men trying to get into women’s spaces is not accurate and is so harmful.”
About 3.3% of high school students identified as transgender in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only a small number of students of any gender are elite athletes.
O’Hara said the few transgender students who play school sports are usually looking for teamwork and social connections, rather than seeking competitive advantage. Moreover, the focus on trans girls in women’s sports obscures more prevalent issues, such as unequal funding and resources for girls’ teams, they said.
But transgender athletes have become a political lightning rod. A week earlier Chino Valley Unified School District in Ramona unanimously agreed to ask the Trump administration to intervene against California’s protections for trans students.
And in January Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, a Rancho Santa Margarita Republican who represents Temecula and Murrieta, introduced a bill that aimed to “prohibit a pupil whose sex was assigned male at birth from participating on a girls interscholastic sports team.” That bill was killed in committee earlier this month.
Even Gov. Gavin Newsom, who gained support among LGBTQ voters when he issued marriage licenses to same sex couples as San Francisco Mayor 20 years ago, recently stirred up controversy when he said during a podcast that it’s “deeply unfair” for transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports.
Assemblymember Corey Jackson, a member of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, denounced the Redlands decision, saying it goes against California law and longstanding policies of the California Interscholastic Federation, which regulates school sports.
“The CIF has long held inclusive policies that align with California’s values and legal standards,” said Jackson, a Moreno Valley Democrat, in a statement to CalMatters. “These recent local decisions, including the one made by Redlands Unified, are not grounded in good faith or meaningful community dialogue. Instead, they are political in nature and designed to sow division and fear in our communities.”
At the Redlands board meeting, Olson addressed audience members who protested the resolution, denying that it expressed prejudice against trans students.
“I see all of your signs,” she said. “It’s not discrimination whatsoever. It’s about common sense, it’s about safety and it’s about fairness.”
