On August 5, Desirée Moore, Ben Stockman, and Keith Olsen published “Title IX and transgender athletes: Penn's landmark settlement and the legal implications” in Westlaw Today. The following is an excerpt:
Desirée Moore, Benjamin Stockman, and Keith Olsen of Venable LLP discuss the terms of a settlement agreement between the federal government and the University of Pennsylvania to resolve an investigation into transgender athletes' participation in women's sports at the university.
In early July, the University of Pennsylvania said it had reached a settlement (https://bit.ly/40L4H64) with the U.S. Department of Education, resolving a federal investigation into Title IX violations based on transgender athlete participation in women's sports.
The unprecedented agreement requires Penn to exclude transgender women from women's sports. The legal significance of the settlement is magnified by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to hear several cases challenging the constitutionality of state-level bans on transgender girls and women competing in female sports divisions, setting the stage for a potentially landmark national ruling on the intersection of Title IX, gender identity, and athletic eligibility.
University of Pennsylvania reaches Title IX settlement over transgender athletes in women's sports
In a resolution to an investigation initiated by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in February 2025, Penn agreed to ban transgender women from women's sports in alignment with the Trump administration's interpretation of Title IX, which prevents sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal dollars.
The university also committed to revise athletic records, adopt biology-based definitions of sex, and issue formal apologies to cisgender athletes affected by transgender athletes' participation.
For the full article, click here.