Lake County Gazette

In the wake of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) announcing its refusal to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning biological males from participating in female sports, Rep. Martin McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills) called the organization's decision irresponsible and dangerous for female athletes. 

The IHSA last week said that it would not revise its current participation policy, which allows male athletes identifying as girls to compete in female sports.

“Once again, the IHSA, a pseudo-governmental agency, has lost sight of its actual role,” McLaughlin told the Lake County Gazette. “The IHSA exists to establish rules and guidelines for schools to follow in leagues, tournaments, and state championships—not to rewrite biological realities or public policy.” 

Trump’s Feb. 5 executive order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” directs the U.S. Department of Education to enforce Title IX protections based on biological sex and threatens to withhold federal funding from schools and associations that fail to comply.

McLaughlin said the IHSA’s stance is a betrayal to female athletes across the state.

“As a father of five daughters, 18 to 30 years old, and as a former coach of female youth travel sports for over 21 years, I am appalled at the lack of recognition of the rights of so many female athletes that have worked so hard for so long to give themselves opportunities to compete on a level playing field,” he said. “If size, strength and speed don't matter, why does the IHSA have weight classes in wrestling? This inconsistency is obviously political virtue signaling. Even Cyndi Lauper understands this... girls just wanna have fun. Let’s let them—in Illinois high school athletics.” 

The IHSA’s decision—issued in response to a letter from 40 Republican House members, including McLaughlin, seeking clarification on the issue—disregards common-sense distinctions in sports, McLaughlin said.

“If size, speed, and strength don’t matter, why has the IHSA expanded from one or two divisions to six or eight? The answer is obvious: physical differences matter in sports,” he said. “This recent decision fails to protect athletes both on the field and in their locker rooms. Ignoring biological realities puts female athletes at a clear disadvantage and compromises their safety and mental health.”

In its response letter to the Republican legislators the IHSA, citing conflict with the Illinois Human Rights Act, said it is obligated under state law to allow transgender athletes to compete in alignment with their gender identity. 

“The Illinois Human Rights Act requires that transgender athletes be permitted to participate in events and programs aligning with the gender with which they identify,” the IHSA’s letter reads. “As a result of the foregoing, compliance with the Executive Order could place the ISA out of compliance with the Illinois Human Rights Act and vice versa.”

IHSA administrators have not responded to the Lake County Gazette’s requests to clarify their position.  

McLaughlin added that could jeopardize billions in federal funding for Illinois schools.

“Worse, as I warned in March on the floor of the General Assembly in Springfield this rejection of federal policy could trigger the loss of over $3 billion in federal funding for our schools,” he said. “Will the IHSA Executive Director, the Governor, or Attorney General Kwame Raoul be writing a personal check to cover that loss? Of course not. We will ALL be footing the bill. This move is irresponsible and undermines the rights that young girls and women have fought hard to earn.” 

In his March speech to the fellow House members McLaughlin called out Democrats for their stance. 

“My friends on the other side often talk, and I'm going to use your words, ‘fairness, equity.’ But they fail to see the inequity this creates for girls and women,” McLaughlin said on the House floor. “This stance now not only threatens those girls and women on the fields, but threatens our taxpayers if and when federal funds will be removed.” 

The issue has garnered national attention amid federal civil rights investigations for alleged Title IX violations by the Illinois Department of Education, Chicago Public Schools District 299 and locally at Deerfield Public Schools District 109 where female students at Deerfield Middle School were forced to undress in front of a biological male student in the girls' locker room.  

McLaughlin represents Illinois' 52nd House District, which includes parts of Lake, Cook, Kane, and McHenry counties, covering areas such as Algonquin, Barrington, Fox River Grove, Inverness, Island Lake, Volo, Wauconda and western portions of Libertyville and Mundelein.