McMahon spoke with OutKick on Monday as the Department of Education continued to recognize June as "Title IX Month," which the Trump administration is using to highlight its effort to restore sex-based protections in schools and athletics.The secretary said the administration views Title IX as a protection for female athletes, not as a law that requires girls to compete against biological males."I think the president has made it crystal clear as to what he expects Title IX to be," McMahon said."That is the way it was originally drafted and is expected to be: girls are in girls' sports and boys are in boys' sports."President Donald Trump signed the "No Men in Women’s Sports" executive order in the East Room at the White House on Feb.
5, 2025.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)The debate has also put renewed pressure on Newsom, who said in March 2025 that it was "deeply unfair" for males to compete in women’s sports but has not pushed California to reverse its policy allowing athletes to compete based on gender identity.Asked what message she would send to Newsom, McMahon said the California governor cannot keep trying to straddle both sides of the issue."I think he needs to stick to one plan or the other," McMahon said.
"On the one hand, when he's being interviewed, he'll say that it's totally unfair and men should not compete in women's sports, and yet he does nothing about it in the state of California to make that stick.And so, he needs to pick a side and stick to it.
He can't have a foot in both camps."McMahon said Title IX was created to give women athletic opportunities they had long been denied."Title IX first came along to give women the opportunity to play in sports because they were shielded from it or prevented from going into sports," McMahon said."So Title IX really made sports accessible to all women and now that right is being infringed on by boys who are electing to be girls and I just don't think that's correct."Title IX, part of the Education Amend...