Latest news with #Dhillon
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Justice Department ratchets up pressure on California school districts to bar trans athletes
The U.S. Justice Department ratcheted up its efforts to block transgender athletes from competing in school sports in California by warning school districts Monday that they will face legal trouble if they don't break from the state and bar such athletes from competition within days. The new warning followed similar threats by the Trump administration to the state and the California Interscholastic Federation, which governs youth sports and requires transgender athletes be allowed to compete. It also comes after AB Hernandez, a 16-year-old transgender junior from Jurupa Valley High School, won multiple medals at the state high school track and field championships on Saturday, despite a directive from President Trump that she not be allowed to compete. Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon — a conservative California lawyer who focused on challenging LGBTQ+-friendly state laws before being appointed by Trump to head the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division — wrote in a Monday letter to school districts that continuing to comply with CIF rules allowing transgender athletes to compete 'would deprive girls of athletic opportunities and benefits based solely on their biological sex,' in violation of the U.S. Constitution. To 'avoid legal liability' for such violations, Dhillon wrote, each district must 'certify in writing' by June 9 that it is no longer complying with the federation's rules and barring transgender athletes from competition. Dhillon said on the social media platform X that her office put '1600+ California schools on blast for violating equal protection in girls' sports.' Dhillon's letter made no mention of the CIF's rule change last week — after Trump threatened to revoke federal funding from California if Hernandez competed in the state championships. The change allowed any cisgender girl bumped from qualifying for event finals by a transgender athlete to compete anyway. It also ensured cisgender girls were awarded medals in every race, regardless of how Hernandez placed. The policy was intended as a compromise, but it drew little support from those on the conservative right demanding a full ban on transgender athletes. In addition to Trump's funding threat, Dhillon's office last week announced it was launching an investigation into the state, the interscholastic federation and the Jurupa Unified School District, where Hernandez competes. A spokesperson for California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta's office said officials there were 'very concerned with the Trump Administration's ongoing threats to California schools and remain committed to defending and upholding California laws and all additional laws which ensure the rights of students — including transgender students — to be free from discrimination and harassment.' The office was 'reviewing the letter and closely monitoring the Trump Administration's actions in this space,' the spokesperson said. Elizabeth Sanders, a spokesperson for the California Department of Education, said the agency had no comment on Dhillon's letter Monday but was 'preparing to send guidance' out to districts Tuesday. She said California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond also had no response Monday. The Los Angeles Unified School District declined to comment. Other local districts around L.A. did not respond to requests for comment. LGBTQ+ advocates criticized Dhillon's letter, calling it the latest proof that the Trump administration is not actually concerned with protecting cisgender athletes but with targeting transgender kids to score political points. Shannon Minter, vice president of legal at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, helped draft the interscholastic federation's original rules allowing transgender athletes to compete, and also supports the new rule — which he said ensures that both transgender and cisgender athletes get to compete. At last weekend's meet, for example, Hernandez's competing did not push any cisgender girls out of competition. Hernandez took gold in both the girls' triple jump and girls' high jump, and placed second in the girls' long jump — but wasn't alone in any of those spots. For the triple jump, she stood on the podium alongside a cisgender girl who was also given gold. For the high jump, she shared the podium with two cisgender girls with whom she tied. For the long jump, she shared the second-place podium spot with a cisgender girl who also was awarded silver. The new rule addressed 'the concerns people had about taking opportunities away from non-transgender girls, and it makes sure that cannot happen — it literally eliminates that concern altogether,' Minter said. By ignoring the new rules, he said, Dhillon's letter 'shows what we already knew, which is that this administration isn't concerned at all about protecting athletic opportunities for girls, this is just about bias against transgender people — pure and simple.' Critics of transgender youth participating in sports, meanwhile, cheered Dhillon's letter as a major victory. Sophia Lorey, outreach director for the conservative California Family Council, said it was 'huge.' Lorey was kicked out of the state championships Saturday after handing out fliers urging people to sign a petition calling on the interscholastic federation to change its policies. 'Here we gooooo!' Lorey wrote on X. 'As a born & raised Californian who played soccer through college — I am beyond grateful.' At least a handful of California school districts with conservative elected leaders would be eager to comply with the new directive. On April 17, the Chino Valley Unified school board unanimously approved a resolution titled 'Supporting Title IX and Fairness in Girls' Interscholastic Sports.' The resolution stated that 'biological differences between male and female athletes can create inherent advantage in competitive sports, particularly in categories designated specifically for girls.' The school system called on state governing bodies to uphold protections for girls in sports under Title IX, a 1972 federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding. In April, the school system also filed a Title IX complaint with the federal Justice Department against Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Department of Education, Thurmond and the California Interscholastic Federation. The complaint said Chino Valley was 'now caught between conflicting state and federal directives' and was requesting 'urgent federal intervention.' Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified school board, wrote on X that Dhillon's letter was 'a historic win' for parents, their daughters, the nation and 'truth.' 'We will not bend. We will not compromise. We will protect our daughters at all costs,' wrote Shaw, who is running for state superintendent of public instruction. 'The tide is turning. The silence is broken. And we are just getting started.' Shaw also suggested that the support from the Trump administration could encourage her school system to take more aggressive action. 'I'm bringing this matter forward at our next board meeting,' Shaw said. 'We will not comply with insanity. We will not be bullied into silence. We will not betray our girls to please radicals.' Hernandez's mother, Nereyda Hernandez, could not be reached Monday, but has previously said that it was heartbreaking to see her child being attacked 'simply for being who they are,' and despite following all California laws and policies for competing. She begged Trump to reconsider his efforts to oust transgender girls from sports. 'My child is a transgender student-athlete, a hardworking, disciplined, and passionate young person who just wants to play sports, continue to build friendships, and grow into their fullest potential like any other child,' she said.
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
DOJ Civil Rights Division sets Title IX deadline for California on transgender athletes in girls' sports
FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Justice is demanding that California's public high schools confirm by next week that they do not allow transgender athletes to compete in girls' sports, escalating a federal inquiry into the state over its compliance with Title IX. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the DOJ Civil Rights Division, said in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital that public school districts must "certify in writing" by June 9 that they will not abide by the California Interscholastic Federation's gender identity rules. "Knowingly depriving female students of athletic opportunities and benefits on the basis of their sex would constitute unconstitutional sex discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause," Dhillon wrote in the letter. California High Schooler Begs State Officials To Ban Trans Athletes From Girls' Sports At Contentious Meeting The California Interscholastic Federation governs public and private high school sports in the state and has a bylaw that requires its members to recognize gender identity in sports. All students should be able to participate in school sports "in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student's records," the bylaw states. Read On The Fox News App Dhillon, a former California-based conservative attorney, said the certifications she is seeking from the public school districts will "ensure compliance" with Title IX and help them to "avoid legal liability." Her demand pits public school districts against the California Interscholastic Federation, the entity that schools are required to comply with to participate in state sports competitions. Doj Intervening In California Trans Athlete Controversy As Trump Monitors Girls' Track And Field Championship Fox News Digital reached out to the California Interscholastic Federation's executive director for comment. Dhillon's move comes after she and the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California announced last week that they were investigating the California Interscholastic Federation and other public entities over whether the state's laws conflicted with Trump's interpretation of Title IX. When Trump took office, he ordered federal agencies to enforce Title IX in a manner that excluded gender identity after the Biden administration attempted to reinterpret the statute. Title IX, passed in 1972, is a landmark civil rights law designed to prevent sex discrimination in schools. Former President Barack Obama made the first, albeit unenforceable, attempt to reinterpret Title IX at the end of his term by directing schools that received federal funds to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and participate in sports that corresponded to their gender identities. Trump quashed those efforts in his first term and, in coordination with former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, began a lengthy process of creating new rules within the Education Department to require schools to adhere to the long-held meaning of Title IX. Former President Joe Biden made embracing gender identity and reimagining Title IX a pillar of his presidency by moving to unravel the Trump administration's new rules. Biden was, however, met with numerous injunctions and never able to get his version of Title IX off the ground. Trump Doj, Education Dept Form Task Force To Protect Female Athletes From 'Gender Ideology' In Schools, Sports Now, Trump has aggressively sought to enforce his first term's rules. He signed a string of executive orders focused on, as one order described it, the "biological reality of sex," and his agencies have sent demand letters and opened federal inquiries into states that are resistant to the administration's efforts. In addition to targeting California, the DOJ sued Maine over Title IX, arguing that its state Education Department was out of compliance with federal law, citing a transgender athlete who won a girls' pole-vaulting competition in February. Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, has downplayed the matter, telling local news at one point that there were "like two" transgender athletes in her state. Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom, meanwhile, has shown an openness to Trump's position that transgender athletes competing in girls' sports is unfair, to the chagrin of some of Newsom's liberal base. Newsom also recently said he supported a new pilot initiative by the California Interscholastic Federation to allow any female track and field athlete who would have qualified for an upcoming state championship to compete if they had been displaced by a transgender article source: DOJ Civil Rights Division sets Title IX deadline for California on transgender athletes in girls' sports
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What it's like watching your company be acquired for $8 billion—20 years after leaving
In 2004, after cofounding and leading data management company Informatica for 12 years, Gaurav Dhillon stepped away from the company for good. This week, now roughly 20 years later, Informatica was acquired by Salesforce in an $8 billion deal. 'It's deeply satisfying,' said Dhillon. 'When you look back at it and now see all these people on LinkedIn who have Informatica skills, it gives me a thrill—even though [my current company] SnapLogic is a competitor now. There's a certain amount of sibling rivalry, where you have an older sibling and a younger sibling, and you can never be older than your older brother. But you can provide interesting, new products and sometimes be more successful.' Informatica's last two decades have been complicated. Started in 1993 and going public in 1999, Informatica was a Y2K darling that by the mid-2000s was struggling to find its future. Dhillon left over strategic disagreements with the board, believing Informatica's technology was falling behind, especially amid the shift to cloud-based solutions. After walking away in 2004, he founded competitor SnapLogic in 2006. Meanwhile, Informatica had a string of owners. In 2015, Permira and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought Informatica for about $5.3 billion, and then the company went public again in 2021. There were rumors around a possible Salesforce acquisition last year that crystallized into this week, when Informatica became the latest purchase in Salesforce's string of deals. (Earlier this month, Salesforce announced plans to acquire There's tension in how Dhillon feels about the subject—gratitide for the runaway early success that shaped his life, and a nagging sense that things could have turned out differently. 'On one hand, we have this $8 billion outcome that's satisfying,' said Dhillon, who has no stake left in Informatica. 'On the other hand, who's buying who, right? I mean, I was one of Marc [Benioff's] first public company customers when he was starting Salesforce back in the day. So, you really have to continually double down on market opportunities to go forward. And this is what Informatica stopped doing that later led to the private equity years.' Dhillon's SnapLogic—whose backers over the years include Andreessen Horowitz, Floodgate, and Sixth Street Growth—is fashioned as a direct competitor to Informatica. (On its website, there's copy that reads: 'We left Informatica. You can, too.' The company raised its most recent funding round of $165 million in 2021 at a $1 billion valuation.) A lesson Dhillon brought to SnapLogic: Continuous innovation is essential. 'If you use the filter of 'We'll for sure make money in this fiscal year' to say yes or no to projects, you're going to run out of innovation,' he said. 'It's only a matter of time.' Ultimately, Dhillon told Fortune that he doesn't regret leaving Informatica behind. 'If you're graced with some success early in life, you have choice,' he said. 'And when we have choice, we have to engage passionately with big problems.' Sometimes, said Dhillon, a clean break is all you need. He thinks back to that point of no return, 20 years ago. 'We had recruited an Oracle executive on the board,' said Dhillon. 'And he said, 'Gaurav, make a clean break. It's probably the most difficult thing you can do for a while. But it's the best thing you can do, instead of hanging around as chairman. If they're going to do a clean reset and start to cash cow the business, let them do it.' And I'd worked 12 years of Sundays—I was ready to take a break.' Dhillon did, taking a year off learning Spanish at a university in Buenos Aires. And then he started over. See you Monday, Allie GarfinkleX: @agarfinksEmail: a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here. Nina Ajemian curated the deals section of today's newsletter. Subscribe here. This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Justice Department to investigate California, back lawsuit over transgender kids in sports
The U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether California, its interscholastic sports federation and the Jurupa Unified School District are violating the civil rights of cisgender girls by allowing transgender students to compete in school sports, federal officials announced Wednesday. The Justice Department is also throwing its support behind a pending lawsuit alleging similar violations of girls' rights in the Riverside Unified School District, said U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, who oversees much of the Los Angeles region, and Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Transgender track athletes have come under intense scrutiny in recent months in both Jurupa Valley and Riverside, with anti-LGBTQ+ activists attacking them on social media and screaming opposition to their competing at school meets. Read more: Two transgender athletes navigate teen life on front lines of raging national debate Essayli and Dhillon, both Californians appointed under President Trump, have long fought against transgender rights in the state. Their announcements came one day after Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from California for allowing transgender youth to participate in sports. The legal actions are just the latest attempts by the Trump administration to scale back transgender rights nationwide, including by bringing the fight to California — which has the nation's largest queer population and some of its most robust LGBTQ+ legal protections — and targeting individual student athletes in the state. Both Trump in his threats Tuesday and Essayli and Dhillon in their announcement of the investigation Wednesday appeared to reference the recent success of a 16-year-old transgender track athlete at Jurupa Valley High School named AB Hernandez. Trump wrongly suggested that Hernandez had won "everything" at a recent meet — which Hernandez didn't do. In a comment to The Times on Wednesday, Hernandez's mother, Nereyda Hernandez, said it was heartbreaking to see her child being attacked "simply for being who they are," and despite following all California laws and policies for competing. "My child is a transgender student-athlete, a hardworking, disciplined, and passionate young person who just wants to play sports, continue to build friendships, and grow into their fullest potential like any other child," her mother said. The mother of another transgender high school track athlete in Riverside County who is the subject of the pending lawsuit the Justice Department is now backing declined to comment Wednesday. The Justice Department said it had sent letters of legal notice to California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, the California Interscholastic Federation and Jurupa Unified. The U.S. Department of Education had previously announced in February that it was investigating the CIF for allowing transgender athletes to compete. Dhillon said the two federal departments would coordinate their investigations. Bonta has defended state laws protecting transgender youth, students and athletes, and advised school systems and other institutions in the state, such as hospitals, to adhere to state LGBTQ+ laws — even in the face of various Trump executive orders aimed at curtailing the rights of and healthcare for transgender youth. On Wednesday, his office said it remained "committed to defending and upholding California laws." Scott Roark, a spokesman for the California Department of Education, said his agency could not comment. Jacquie Paul, a spokesperson for Jurupa Unified, said the school system had yet to receive the letter Wednesday, and "without further information" could not comment. A spokesperson for the Riverside Unified School District also declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. The CIF, in a statement, said it "values all of our student-athletes and we will continue to uphold our mission of providing students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete while complying with California law and Education Code." Read more: Trump threatens to strip federal funds to California over transgender youth athletes However, the sports federation also changed its rules for the upcoming 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships, saying a cisgender girl who is bumped from qualifying for event finals by a transgender athlete would still be allowed to compete and would also be awarded the medal for whichever place they would have claimed were the transgender athlete not competing. The changes brought renewed criticism from advocates on both sides of the political issue, including Chino Valley Unified school board President Sonja Shaw. Shaw is a Trump supporter running for state schools superintendent who has challenged pro-LGBTQ+ laws statewide and supports the latest investigation. She said that, in making the changes, CIF was "admitting" that girls "are being pushed out of their own sports." Dhillon said her office's "pattern or practice" investigation will consider whether California's laws and the CIF policies violate Title IX, a 1972 federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding. Title IX has been used in the past to win rights for transgender people, but the Trump administration has taken a strikingly different view of the law — and cited it as a reason transgender rights must be rolled back. Dhillon said the law "exists to protect women and girls in education," that it is "perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies," and that her division would "aggressively defend women's hard-fought rights to equal educational opportunities." Essayli said in a statement that his office would "work tirelessly to protect girls' sports and stop anyone — public officials included — from violating women's civil rights." LGBTQ+ advocates, civic institutions in California and many Democratic lawmakers in the state have denounced the framing of transgender inclusion in sports as diminishing the rights of women and girls and accused Trump and other Republicans of attacking transgender people — about 1% of the U.S. population — simply because they make for an easy and vulnerable political target. Read more: Feeling threatened in U.S., transgender Americans look abroad Kristi Hirst, co-founder of the public education advocacy group Our Schools USA, said the Justice Department's actions amounted to "bullying minors and using taxpayer resources to do so," and that a "better use of public dollars would be for the Justice Department to affirm that all kids possess civil rights, and protect the very students being targeted today." The "pattern or practice" investigation is the second such investigation that Dhillon's office has launched in the L.A. region in as many months. It's also investigating Los Angeles County over its process for issuing gun permits. Essayli's separate decision to back the Riverside lawsuit adds another wrinkle to an already complicated case. The group Save Girls' Sports is suing over the inclusion of a transgender athlete in a girls' track meet in October, a decision they allege unfairly bumped a cisgender girl from competition, and over a decision by high school officials to block students from wearing shirts that read, "IT'S COMMON SENSE. XX [does not equal] XY," a reference to the different chromosome pairings of biological females and males. Julianne Fleischer, an attorney with Advocates for Faith & Freedom who is representing Save Girls' Sports, said Wednesday that Essayli's decision to weigh in on behalf of the group was welcome. "This case has always been about common sense, fairness, and the plain meaning of the law," Fleischer said in a statement. "Girls' sports were never meant to be a social experiment. They exist so that girls can win, lead and thrive on a level playing field." It was unclear how the case would be affected by Essayli's interest. The state and school district are asking for the lawsuit to be dismissed. A hearing is scheduled next month. Essayli, formerly a state Assembly member from Riverside County, made his name in politics in part by attacking what he has called the "woke" policies of California's liberal majority in Sacramento. Shortly before he was appointed as U.S. attorney last month, other California lawmakers blocked a bill he introduced that would have banned transgender athletes from female sports. Hernandez, the mother of the targeted Jurupa Valley athlete, said Trump and other officials were bullying children by "weaponizing misinformation and fear instead of embracing truth, compassion and respect," and asked Trump to reconsider. "I respectfully request you to open your heart and mind to learn about the LGBTQ+ community," she said, "not from the voices of fear or division, but from the people living these lives with courage, love and dignity." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Justice Department to investigate California, back lawsuit over transgender kids in sports
The U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether California, its interscholastic sports federation and the Jurupa Unified School District are violating the civil rights of cisgender girls by allowing transgender students to compete in school sports, federal officials announced Wednesday. The Justice Department is also throwing its support behind a pending lawsuit alleging similar violations of girls' rights in the Riverside Unified School District, said U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, who oversees much of the Los Angeles region, and Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Transgender track athletes have come under intense scrutiny in recent months in both Jurupa Valley and Riverside, with anti-LGBTQ+ activists attacking them on social media and screaming opposition to their competing at school meets. Essayli and Dhillon, both Californians appointed under President Trump, have long fought against transgender rights in the state. Their announcements came one day after Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from California for allowing transgender youth to participate in sports. The legal actions are just the latest attempts by the Trump administration to scale back transgender rights nationwide, including by bringing the fight to California — which has the nation's largest queer population and some of its most robust LGBTQ+ legal protections — and targeting individual student athletes in the state. Both Trump in his threats Tuesday and Essayli and Dhillon in their announcement of the investigation Wednesday appeared to reference the recent success of a 16-year-old transgender track athlete at Jurupa Valley High School named AB Hernandez. Trump wrongly suggested that Hernandez had won 'everything' at a recent meet — which Hernandez didn't do. In a comment to The Times on Wednesday, Hernandez's mother, Nereyda Hernandez, said it was heartbreaking to see her child being attacked 'simply for being who they are,' and despite following all California laws and policies for competing. 'My child is a transgender student-athlete, a hardworking, disciplined, and passionate young person who just wants to play sports, continue to build friendships, and grow into their fullest potential like any other child,' her mother said. The mother of another transgender high school track athlete in Riverside County who is the subject of the pending lawsuit the Justice Department is now backing declined to comment Wednesday. The Justice Department said it had sent letters of legal notice to California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, the California Interscholastic Federation and Jurupa Unified. The U.S. Department of Education had previously announced in February that it was investigating the CIF for allowing transgender athletes to compete. Dhillon said the two federal departments would coordinate their investigations. Bonta has defended state laws protecting transgender youth, students and athletes, and advised school systems and other institutions in the state, such as hospitals, to adhere to state LGBTQ+ laws — even in the face of various Trump executive orders aimed at curtailing the rights of and healthcare for transgender youth. On Wednesday, his office said it remained 'committed to defending and upholding California laws.' Thurmond did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Scott Roark, a spokesman for the California Department of Education, said his agency could not comment. Jacquie Paul, a spokesperson for Jurupa Unified, said the school system had yet to receive the letter Wednesday, and 'without further information' could not comment. A spokesperson for the Riverside Unified School District also declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. The CIF, in a statement, said it 'values all of our student-athletes and we will continue to uphold our mission of providing students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete while complying with California law and Education Code.' However, the sports federation also changed its rules for the upcoming 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships, saying a cisgender girl who is bumped from qualifying for event finals by a transgender athlete would still be allowed to compete and would also be awarded the medal for whichever place they would have claimed were the transgender athlete not competing. The changes brought renewed criticism from advocates on both sides of the political issue, including Chino Valley Unified school board President Sonja Shaw. Shaw is a Trump supporter running for state schools superintendent who has challenged pro-LGBTQ+ laws statewide and supports the latest investigation. She said that, in making the changes, CIF was 'admitting' that girls 'are being pushed out of their own sports.' Dhillon said her office's 'pattern or practice' investigation will consider whether California's laws and the CIF policies violate Title IX, a 1972 federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding. Title IX has been used in the past to win rights for transgender people, but the Trump administration has taken a strikingly different view of the law — and cited it as a reason transgender rights must be rolled back. Dhillon said the law 'exists to protect women and girls in education,' that it is 'perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies,' and that her division would 'aggressively defend women's hard-fought rights to equal educational opportunities.' Essayli said in a statement that his office would 'work tirelessly to protect girls' sports and stop anyone — public officials included — from violating women's civil rights.' LGBTQ+ advocates, civic institutions in California and many Democratic lawmakers in the state have denounced the framing of transgender inclusion in sports as diminishing the rights of women and girls and accused Trump and other Republicans of attacking transgender people — about 1% of the U.S. population — simply because they make for an easy and vulnerable political target. Kristi Hirst, co-founder of the public education advocacy group Our Schools USA, said the Justice Department's actions amounted to 'bullying minors and using taxpayer resources to do so,' and that a 'better use of public dollars would be for the Justice Department to affirm that all kids possess civil rights, and protect the very students being targeted today.' The 'pattern or practice' investigation is the second such investigation that Dhillon's office has launched in the L.A. region in as many months. It's also investigating Los Angeles County over its process for issuing gun permits. Essayli's separate decision to back the Riverside lawsuit adds another wrinkle to an already complicated case. The group Save Girls' Sports is suing over the inclusion of a transgender athlete in a girls' track meet in October, a decision they allege unfairly bumped a cisgender girl from competition, and over a decision by high school officials to block students from wearing shirts that read, 'IT'S COMMON SENSE. XX [does not equal] XY,' a reference to the different chromosome pairings of biological females and males. Julianne Fleischer, an attorney with Advocates for Faith & Freedom who is representing Save Girls' Sports, said Wednesday that Essayli's decision to weigh in on behalf of the group was welcome. 'This case has always been about common sense, fairness, and the plain meaning of the law,' Fleischer said in a statement. 'Girls' sports were never meant to be a social experiment. They exist so that girls can win, lead and thrive on a level playing field.' It was unclear how the case would be affected by Essayli's interest. The state and school district are asking for the lawsuit to be dismissed. A hearing is scheduled next month. Essayli, formerly a state Assembly member from Riverside County, made his name in politics in part by attacking what he has called the 'woke' policies of California's liberal majority in Sacramento. Shortly before he was appointed as U.S. attorney last month, other California lawmakers blocked a bill he introduced that would have banned transgender athletes from female sports. Hernandez, the mother of the targeted Jurupa Valley athlete, said Trump and other officials were bullying children by 'weaponizing misinformation and fear instead of embracing truth, compassion and respect,' and asked Trump to reconsider. 'I respectfully request you to open your heart and mind to learn about the LGBTQ+ community,' she said, 'not from the voices of fear or division, but from the people living these lives with courage, love and dignity.'
