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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison gloated about his lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, which aims to protect the rights of biological males to compete in girls’ sports in his state.
In an interview with Public Citizen on Thursday, Ellison made an appearance to boast about his legal battle over the issue, which he filed back in April.
“We are fighting to protect transgender athletes. In fact, we were in court doing it today… Donald Trump and [Attorney General] Pam Bondi were threatening to sue me, I sued them first!” Ellison said.
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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has sued the Trump administration to protect the rights of biological males to compete in girls’ sports in his state. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Because of this issue of them trying to exclude transgender athletes. And what we’re talking about is kids folks. We’re talking about kids, minors, who all they want to do is be on the team and build relationships with their friends,” he added. “But this guy has said ‘no, they must be excluded, they must be scapegoated.’ We said ‘absolutely hell no!’”
The White House previously provided a statement to Fox News Digital responding to Ellison’s lawsuit.
“Why would a grown man sue the Trump administration to allow other biological males to participate in women’s sports? This is creepy and anti-woman,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital.
Minnesota was one of the first states to openly defy Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order, and is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services for its defiance.
The state’s policies that allow trans athletes to play in girls’ sports enabled a trans softball pitcher to lead Champlin Park High School to the state championship this past spring, igniting national controversy and a lawsuit against Ellison by three girls’ softball players in the state.
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The Champlin Park High School softball team, which was led by a trans pitcher, celebrates winning a Minnesota state championship as members of the defeated Bloomington Jefferson High team look on. (Amber Harding)
The lawsuit names three school districts, Ellison, Minnesota State High School League executive director Erich Martens, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Education Willie Jett, and commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights Rebecca Lucero as defendants.
One of the anonymous softball players involved in the lawsuit previously told Fox News Digital what it was like facing the trans athlete, who led Champlin Park High School to the state championship this season.
“Hitting against him is not only a physical challenge but a mental, too. It’s a mental battle knowing that he has an advantage in the sport that I grew up playing, making it hard to even want to hit against him. His ability to get outs and spin the ball is a strong advantage, but like I said it’s also incredibly mentally challenging knowing that you’re competing against someone who has unfair advantages leaving you with little to no confidence,” the player said.
“This issue has affected me in ways that I never imagined. It’s simply unfair and I hate that nothing is happening to change that. Boys should not be able to take girls spots on teams just because they are capable of doing so. I hope that more girls affected by this issue will stand up against this.”
The anonymous player also called out Ellison for aggressively defending trans inclusion in girls’ sports in the state.
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“It’s really upsetting to know that [Ellison] isn’t taking rights of girls and women seriously. He is allowing boys to compete with girls, and it is not safe and completely unfair. To know that AG Ellison is in complete support of letting boys and men take advantage of females in sports is absolutely disgusting and wrong,” the player added.
Minnesota’s state legislature failed to pass the “Preserving Girls’ Sports Act” in early March, which would have stated that “only female students may participate in an elementary or secondary school level athletic team or sport that an educational institution has restricted to women and girls.”
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