Minnesota schools should restore sex-based girls’ sports

Minnesota girls should have sex-based teams again, and local schools now have a chance to vote on an amendment that would repeal the transgender-student eligibility appeal procedure the MSHSL board imposed in 2014. On Oct. 26, Make It Fair Minnesota said it had secured support from 11 school districts, enough to advance a proposed bylaw amendment to a vote among the Minnesota State High School League’s 509 Minnesota public and private high schools, according to the amendment document¹.

The group’s Oct. 27 post told Minnesotans where the decision sits: “Minnesotans can adopt biology-based MSHSL sports through their high schools right now!” Make It Fair Minnesota urged residents: “Ask your school board, coaches and athletic directors!”²

One elected board has already answered: the Elk River Area Public School District voted at a September school board meeting to support the amendment, CBS Minnesota reports¹. Make It Fair Minnesota’s website says each district will gather community input, discuss the amendment and determine its position at a public school board meeting before Dec. 15. The amendment advances to the Representative Assembly⁴ only if at least nine of the MSHSL’s 16 regions vote yes^{5, 6, 3}. Which board in your county will be next?

“Ask your school board, coaches and athletic directors!”

The league board set the rule in 2014

Minnesota girls have waited 12 years for a say, because the league board set their team rule without asking the member schools. The MSHSL board adopted its gender identity-based participation policy in 2014, KTTC reports⁷.

The amendment’s own text says the board and state leaders “newly required Member Schools to sort high school sports teams based on gender identity rather than on biological sex through Board policy passed in 2014,” and it notes that no member-school vote approved the policy⁸.

The league’s own website sets out who writes the rules: “The Representative Assembly is the legislative body of the MSHSL and is responsible for creating and amending bylaws.”⁴ The girls’ team rule came from the board anyway. That is ideological capture: an institution adopted transgender ideology as its own rule and bound every member school to it.

The amendment bases teams on sex at birth

The operative sentence of the amendment is one line: “A student who participates in a sex-separated sport shall participate on the team consistent with their biological sex at birth.”⁸ KTTC describes the effect plainly: keeping those who are biologically male from competing on women’s teams⁷.

The amendment also repeals the board’s 2023 diversity, equity, inclusivity and belonging policy, which the document lists as “Repeal APPENDIX: Board Policy: A Code of Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity and Belonging adopted by the MSHSL Board in 2023.”⁸

The paperwork changes too. The eligibility brochure would be updated, and the amendment document says it must be signed annually by each athlete and a parent/guardian as a condition of MSHSL participation⁸.

The league constitution sets the bar to propose a change at five member schools: “The MSHSL Constitution establishes a threshold of five Member Schools to propose an MSHSL Bylaw amendment for consideration by all Member Schools.”⁸ Eleven cleared it, and the league will send the amendment to every member school by Nov. 1, KTTC reports⁷.

State law still blocks the bylaw

The objection that matters came from an Elk River board member: “If the bylaws are changed, then what? Do we violate the Minnesota Human Rights Act?” CBS Minnesota reports that the answer is state law: it would need to change before the proposed bylaw could take effect¹.

OutFront Minnesota executive director Kat Rohn says, “The number of competitive trans athletes in the state is virtually nonexistent.”¹

The amendment says the Minnesota attorney general issued a February 2025 legal opinion arguing that a biology-based rule would violate the Minnesota Human Rights Act. It also cites a 2026 Justice Department suit against Minnesota under Title IX⁸.

The amendment document says the Supreme Court’s June 30, 2026, ruling in West Virginia v. BPJ “established that sport team eligibility determined by biology-based definitions of sex is both compliant with Title IX.”⁸ State law would need to change before the proposed bylaw could take effect, and legislators in St. Paul should change it once the schools have spoken.

Parents should press their boards before Dec. 15

Make It Fair Minnesota says its next step is to bring the amendment to local school leaders and communities, with regional votes expected to be completed by February¹. Regional votes would have to be complete by Feb. 15, KTTC reports⁷.

At least nine of the sixteen Administrative Regions must vote yes before the amendment moves to the Representative Assembly, which the league says has three delegates appointed from each region. The Assembly meets on May 11, 2027, at 9 a.m. at the Minneapolis Marriott Northwest, where it acts on proposed bylaw amendments⁴.

Every Minnesota parent with a daughter in school sports should go to the next school board meeting and ask one question: how will our school vote? Ask the athletic director and the coaches too, then tell your legislator that the schools spoke and the law should follow. Your school board can answer that question before Dec. 15.

Sources

1. Proposal targeting transgender athlete participation advances in Minnesota, grassroots group says - CBS Minnesota
2. @MakeItFairMN on X, 2026-10-27: Minnesotans can adopt biology-based MSHSL sports through their high schools right now! How will your school vote in this new legal landscape? Ask your school board, coaches and athletic directors! Use the form to submit your support! https://www.makeitfairmn, 2026-10-27
3. Home | MSHSL Amendment | Make It Fair MN | Biology-Based Eligibility for Minnesota Girls’ Sports
4. Proposed Rule Changes | MSHSL
5. School board divided over vote supporting amendment to restrict trans students in sports
6. Bemidji joins other school districts urging MSHSL review of trans athlete rule | KAXE
7. Group says biology-based sports amendment advances in MSHSL process
8. Amendment to MSHSL Bylaws