(The Lion) — A new lawsuit is challenging a Minnesota policy allowing biological males to compete in female sports, arguing it violates Title IX and disadvantages female athletes.
Female Athletes United, a group dedicated to promoting fairness and protecting the integrity of women’s sports, alleges in a legal complaint several of its members have been forced to compete against males in high school softball – and have lost to them or been physically hurt as a result.
Alliance Defending Freedom filed the lawsuit on behalf of the group, noting because of the state’s “discriminatory policy” males are “displacing and defeating females in their own sports.”
“Minnesota is failing its female athletes,” Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Suzanne Beecher said. “The state is putting the rights of males ahead of females, telling girls their hard work may never be enough to win and that they don’t deserve fairness and safety.”
She added that by “sacrificing protection for female athletes,” the state is failing to “offer girls equal treatment and opportunity,” in violation of Title IX.
The state allows male students who merely claim a “female gender identity” to participate in women’s and girls’ sports, the lawsuit notes, with no physical requirements such as caps on testosterone levels to “mitigate the inherent physiological advantages that male athletes have.”
“Minnesota’s policy expands opportunities for male athletes to compete and experience victory at the expense of female athletes,” the complaint reads. “Minnesota’s female athletes suffer as a result – experiencing fewer opportunities to play, win, advance, and receive recognition in their own sports.”
Female athletes forced to compete against biological males also “suffer the mental burden of knowing that their rights are secondary,” it continues.
One 16-year-old female athlete described in the lawsuit, identified as “E.G.,” competed in varsity softball against a male athlete in the regular season and sectionals, ultimately losing and missing out on a chance to advance to the state tournament.
Another 16-year-old Female Members United athlete was “hit by a pitch thrown by the male athlete competing in girls’ softball,” the lawsuit alleges. The teenager had “never experienced pain like this when getting hit by pitches on other occasions,” as the “speed and strength” of the male’s pitch “made the pain more intense” than she had previously felt.
The Lion has reached out for comment to the office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, named alongside other state officials as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Ellison last month a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over its threats to cut federal funding over transgender athletes, arguing that President Trump was “bullying vulnerable children” and denying the “civil rights of transgender people.” filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over its threats to cut federal funding over transgender athletes, arguing that President Trump was “bullying vulnerable children” and denying the “civil rights of transgender people.”
Both Trump and his administration have been outspoken in efforts to keep biological males out of female spaces and sports. In an executive order earlier this year, Trump referred to men competing in women’s sports as “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous” and said it “denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”
