Rockford Sun

In response to the Illinois High School Association's (IHSA) announcement that it will not enforce President Donald Trump's executive order banning biological males from competing in female sports, State Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) said the organization has aligned itself with Governor J.B. Pritzker’s “extreme policies” on gender identity. 

Trump’s Feb. 5 executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” directs the Department of Education to enforce Title IX based on biological sex.

Sosnowski condemned the IHSA's decision for prioritizing political agendas over student well-being. 

“The IHSA is hiding behind the Governor’s extreme policies instead of doing their job which is to protect fairness in competition and the safety of student athletes,” Sosnowski told the Rockford Sun. “The Governor continues to push policies that allow boys to play in girls’ sports, use women’s and girl’s locker rooms and bathrooms, and gender-changing surgeries and hormone therapies for children as young as 13. I strongly oppose these extreme policies. Biological sex should be the required standard for participation in student athletics. We also need to protect the private spaces of women and girls including locker rooms and bathrooms.” 

The rise of the transgender movement has been fueled by significant financial backing from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his cousin, Jennifer Pritzker, a transgender activist born James Nicholas Pritzker, who has funded numerous initiatives promoting "synthetic sex identities."

Pritzker has signed legislation incorporating radical gender theory into Illinois' educational system. Critics argue these efforts contribute to a broader "transgender empire" reshaping American society, particularly in schools and medical institutions.

The transgender program at Lurie Children's Hospital, which provided sex-change therapy for patients as young as five before halting the program weeks ago in response to another Trump executive order, has received more than $21 million from the Pritzker Foundation.

Sosnowski joins a growing number of Illinois Republicans pushing back against what they describe as a politicized and unsafe approach to gender identity in schools and athletics.

The IHSA's statement came in response to a March letter from 40 GOP state lawmakers—including Sosnowski—urging the IHSA to align its policies with Trump’s executive order and Title IX protections based on biological sex.

In its response, the IHSA noted that its current policy allows student-athletes to participate in sports according to their gender identity, citing compliance with the Illinois Human Rights Act.

“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.”

The IHSA also emphasized that it receives no state or federal funding, rendering the executive order’s financial penalties ineffective.

IHSA administrators have not responded to the Rockford Sun’s requests to clarify their position.  

The IHSA’s decision has sparked controversy across the state and drawn attention nationwide, particularly in light of federal civil rights investigations for alleged Title IX violations by the  the Illinois Department of Education, Chicago Public Schools District 299 and Deerfield Public Schools District 109. Among the cases under scrutiny is an incident at Deerfield Middle School, where female students alleged they were forced to undress in front of a biological male in a girls’ locker room.

Sosnowski represents the 69th House District, which includes parts of Winnebago and McHenry counties, as well as portions of Rockford and the communities of Harvard and Marengo.