The decision of the University of Pennsylvania to prohibit transgender athletes from the competition in women’s sports to resolve a civil rights complaint by the Department of Education is being criticized by LGBTQ activists and legal experts as unconstitutional.
The Trump administration announced this week that the IVY League school agreed to follow the interpretation of the Title IX of the Department of Education, the Historical Civil Rights Law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance.
The administration had previously suspended $ 175 million in federal contracts granted to PENN, citing the participation of the openly transgender Lia Thomas athlete in the Women’s Swimming Team during the 2021-2022 season.
The University of Pennsylvania announced, on July 1, 2025, which is prohibiting the transgender athletes of the competition in sports to comply with the executive orders of President Donald Trump.
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“It’s shameful, dangerous and poorly advised. I think they made a big mistake in which they will regret,” News Shannon Minder, legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, told ABC. “It is a strange behavior, and it seems humiliating that such a powerful and respected university is collapsing in these cruel and free hurtful positions.”
MINTER added: “I think that extortion is a very good metaphor of what is happening here. It is the federal government that threatens to retain funds if the university does not accept to take a position.”
‘It legally makes no sense’
As part of the agreement, Penn will adhere to two of the executive orders of President Donald Trump that the White House says he defends the women of the “extremism of gender ideology.”
The university must also strip Thomas of its swimming awards, including its victory in freestyle 500 in the NCAA Division I of 2022 NCAA Swimming And diving championships, and send a letter of apology to the swimmers who competed against Thomas.
The school also agreed to keep access to the bathrooms and costumes of the athletes and the costumes strictly separated on the basis of sex.
The former swimmer of the University of Pennsylvania, Lia Thomas, who is openly transgender, smiles on the podium after winning the 200 freestyle during the Female Swimming and Diving Championships of the Ivy League 2022, on February 18, 2022, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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“Legally, it makes no sense,” said Miner. “I mean, the position of the Trump administration is that Penn somehow did something wrong by following the law that was recognized by law by federal courts and by the Department of Education and the Department of Justice at the relevant time, and they complied with the NCAA policy. Then, to punish them after the fact that the administration has now taken a different position on what they believe that the law should be quite out.”
When comments were requested, the University addressed ABC News to a letter to the school community of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. J. Larry Jameson.
In the letter, Jameson said that the “University’s commitment to guarantee a respectful and cozy environment for all our students is unwavering.”
The letter added: “At the same time, we must comply with federal requirements, including executive orders and NCAA eligibility rules, so our teams and athletes can participate in intercollegial competitive sports.”
White House: Victoria of ‘Common sense’
The Secretary of Education of the United States, Linda McMahon, applauded Penn’s decision as a “common sense” victory for women and girls.
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, UPENN has agreed so much apologizing for his previous violations of Title IX and ensuring that women’s sports are protected at the University for future athletes generations,” McMahon said. In a statement.
The administrator of the Administration of small businesses, Linda McMahon, speaks when President Donald Trump listens during the inaugural meeting of the National Council of the Presidents for the US worker in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, on September 17, 2018, in Washington, DC, DC.
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During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to obtain “transgender madness of our schools” and “keep men out of women’s sports.”
“This administration not only provides lip service to women’s equality: he strongly insists that equality is maintained,” said Riley Gaines, a former swimmer from the University of Kentucky who tied with Thomas for fifth place in the 200 freestyle in the NCAA 2022 championship, said in a UPENN statement.
Gaines said he expected Penn’s decision to promote other educational institutions to refrain from violating the civil rights of women, and “renews hope in each female athlete than the highest leadership of his country did not yield until they have dignity, security and justice they deserve.”
The political activist and former competitive swimmer Riley Gaines (c) observes while President Donald Trump offers comments before signing the executive order of ‘No Men In Women’s Sports’ in the White House, on February 5, 2025.
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In INTERVIEW 2022 With “Good Morning America” by ABC, Thomas, who originally competed in the Penn male swimming team, denied that he had an unfair advantage over the swimmers who were born female.
“There are many factors that enter a race and how well you do it and the greatest change for me is that I am happy and the second year, where I had my best moments competing with men, it was miserable,” Thomas told Gma. “Then, make that lifted is incredibly relief and allows me to put everything in training, in careers. Trans people do not make the transition through athletics. We make the transition to be happy and authentic and our true beings.”
MINTER said it was “shocking” that Penn would agree retroactively on the punishment for something legal at that time.
“In my opinion, it is still legal. The only thing that has changed is that the administration has had a different opinion,” said Miner. “This is just a classical intimidation, intimidation and harassment. It is really sad to see a university like Penn only Knuckle Under, I am sure that they will not be more attacked if they do. It is a shameful day for the university, for our country.”
MINTER said he believes that the Penn agreement is opening the university to “all kinds of responsibility” in the future.
“Now they have publicly declared that they were violating the law, and so what prevents all kinds of other third parties from returning and demanding them now and saying: ‘Well, you have admitted that what you were doing is illegal.’ I mean, it was not, but now they have said that it was and, therefore, they are creating responsibility for themselves,” MINTER said.
Supreme Court to listen to the case of the Trans athlete
Naiymah Sánchez, main organizer of the American Union of Civil Liberties of Pennsylvania, told ABC News that he fears that other universities that are subject to civil rights investigation of the Department of Education will continue in Penn’s steps.
“The Anti-Trans movement is allowing the construction of power among people who are ignorant because they do not know and the people who feel that if we can only eliminate these people, we will have a better life,” said Sánchez. “There is nothing that the University of Pennsylvania has done that was illegal. He followed the standard guidelines.”
The state prohibitions of transgender students participating in sports of girls and women have become inflammation points throughout the country.
On Thursday, the United States Supreme Court announced that they would hear appeals from two states that seek to maintain such laws.
The cases of West Virginia and Idaho, which will be programmed to argue the next period in the fall, will decide whether the Constitution and the Civil Rights Law prohibit prohibitions based on the sex of an athlete assigned to birth.
The lower courts in those cases were put on the side of the athletes to find the state laws violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment or the title IX of the Civil Rights Law.
The decision to listen to the cases follows a decision of the conservative majority of the court last month that defends state prohibitions on medical care affirms the gender for transgender minors. The president of the Court, John Roberts, said that the laws did not violate the 14th amendment or discriminated on the basis of sex, despite the fact that the medical treatments are widely available for the minors.
Sanchez said that in 2024, the then president of the NCAA, Charlie Baker, the former Republican Governor of Massachusetts, testified in a judicial committee of the Senate that heard that of more than 500,000 student athletes competing at the university level, less than 10 were transgender.
“As a trans person, we try not to attach too emotionally to the problems that are happening, even if we are not the ones who are denied the right,” said Sánchez. “But the reality is that a new administration entered and establish its objectives in a certain thing. They go after the easiest fruit of the tree. But it is not just about choosing the easiest fruit of the tree, it is about uprooting the entire tree.”
