Sacramento schools affirm support for LGBTQ+ students despite federal rollback on Title IX protections

Sacramento schools respond to Trump’s rollback of agreements for transgender students, emphasizing support for LGBTQ+ rights amidst uncertain policy change.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento City Unified School District has responded after the Trump administration’s decision to terminate agreements over protections for transgender students.

The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights rescinded provisions from six different school districts across the country. The office said the agreements, made under the Biden and Obama administrations, illegally enforced Title IX on the basis of gender identity and not sex.

“Today, the Trump Administration is removing the unnecessary and unlawful burdens that prior Administrations imposed on schools in its relentless pursuit of a radical transgender agenda. While previous Administrations launched Title IX investigations based on ‘misgendering,’ the Trump Administration is investigating allegations of girls and women being injured by men on their sports team or feeling violated by men in their intimate spaces,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey in a statement Tuesday.

The agreement with Sacramento City Unified School District stemmed from a complaint brought in 2022 by a student after a teacher refused to use preferred pronouns or to place the student, who identified as male, in a boys’ group for a class activity. The 2024 resolution agreement mandated training for employees on civil rights law, sexual harassment and how to handle formal complaints.

“The Sacramento City Unified School District remains committed to the support of our LGBTQ+ students and staff,” the district said in a statement to ABC10.

As for what the decision means for the future, school officials are waiting to see whether it will affect district policies or federal funding.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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