Two female athletes at Washington high schools are asking the Trump administration to stop a male from competing against them during their track season.
Soleil Hoefer, a senior at Prosser High School, and Kora Lengerich, a freshman at Gonzaga Preparatory School, urged the Department of Education’s (ED) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to investigate a policy that is “violating the rights of girls’ by depriving them of equal opportunity for athletic participation and victory” in a Title IX complaint filed Wednesday by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
Current Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) policy still allows athletes to participate in events “consistent with their gender identity,” despite President Donald Trump’s Feb. 5 executive order on “Keeping Men Out Of Women’s Sports.”
A male athlete who won last year’s female state championship in the 400-meter race continues to dominate the division, the complaint notes.
“Kora has already lost a podium spot to this athlete, and Soleil will likely have to run against the athlete soon,” the complaint states. “It is fundamentally unfair that despite all of their hard work and discipline, Soleil and Kora may be deprived of the thrill of victory because Washington forces them to race against males with inherent biological advantages. Soleil and Kora urge OCR to step in to prevent this violation of federal law and protect the right of women and girls to compete in a female-designated sports category.”
WIAA told the Seattle Times on Tuesday that proposed rule changes to exclude men from women’s sports would violate state law.
“The WIAA has been told by the Attorney General’s office, the Office for Civil Rights, and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction that proposed amendments ML/HS #7 and ML/HS #8 would be a violation under current Washington state law, affirming our attorney’s legal review,” communications director Sean Bessette told the outlet. “The WIAA remains committed to following state law, and those amendments focused on gender-identity participation would not be implemented on August 1 if they were to pass under current state law.”
READ: Title IX Complaint
Hal Frampton, senior counsel at ADF, hopes that filing this complaint at the beginning of the track season will provide enough time for the issue to be “ironed out.”
“We are representing very competitive athletes who could be in line for potentially running for state championships,” he told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We would like OCR to step in and for Washington to do the right thing and bring their policy into line right now and promote fair competition for female athletes.”
If OCR finds that Washington’s policy violates Title IX, “one potential remedy would be to go back and correct records” related to metals and championships, Frampton said.
The ED has already launched investigations into several universities and states like Oregon and Maine for allowing men to compete in women’s sports. It also opened an investigation into the Tumwater School District in Washington in response to a complaint from a 15-year-old female athlete.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins informed Maine Governor Janet Mills on Tuesday it would suspend some federal funding until the state comes into “compliance with Title IX’s protection of female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males.”
The WIAA and Washington’s Office of the Superintendent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="37560 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=37560">11 Comments
“It does not take a majority to prevail but rather an irate tireless minority keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” Sam Adam’s
Just stop competing and it will stop.
I used to be a live and let live person for these alternative lifestyles .
NOT any more .
These queers have pushed my limit too far .
Enough is enough with this “ trans “ nonsense . It is a CRIME against normal people to allow this to continue .
I don’t for the life of me understand how the kids in school today allow this to happen to their female classmates .
I agree 100% with Robert M. this is beyond belief and common sense. This just proves public education and teachers are brainwashing our kids. My kids are grown up and on their own, but I would never ever put my kids in a public school again , never!
Hats off to all the young ladies who stand up to injustices where Jane Fonda, Woopie Goldberg, etc. will not!
What about the rights of girls in Maine? How much long we need to wait. Should we loose federal funding for democratic stupidity?
Maine wake up and next time vote red.
There needs to be multiple lawsuits by female athletes in each state concerning millions lost in scholarships and NIL income due to violation of title IX rights. Even Ben Gideon would take on these cases and win, regardless of who his wife is.
They should take a stand like that female fencer did and take a knee, just like she did, and let those mentally ill males compete against themselves.
I just started 3 weeks ago this web income system that my friend recommended to me and I’ve gotten 2 checks for a total of $9,200… this is the best decision I made in a long time! This extra v8759 cash has changed my life in so many ways, thank you!
Here is I started_______ tinyurl.com/homestar2?8759
Plain and Simple
Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them“
If there is no difference between boys and girls in sports why are there separate sports teams? Why not just have one team of the best players? A good question to ask the MPA and all the rest of the school boards etc.