‘You are not a girl. You should not be racing against girls’
A female high school cross country and track athlete is suing her school district, state athletic association, and U.S. Dept. of Education over her second-place finish in a fall cross country meet.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the Quakertown (Pennsylvania) Community High School athlete’s complaint claims her having to compete against a transgender Plymouth Whitemarsh HS athlete in September, and again at a subsequent track meet, “violated her constitutional rights,” according to a complaint filed in January.
Specifically, the Quakertown runner was deprived of her “equal protection of the laws” under the 14th Amendment.
At the time, Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association bylaws read “Where a student’s gender is questioned or uncertain, the decision of the Principal as to the student’s gender will be accepted by the PIAA.” Thus, it was up to Plymouth Whitemarsh’s principal to make the ultimate call in the matter.
The PIAA slightly altered the bylaw’s language last month following President Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order. However, it still leaves the final decision up to “the school.”
The lawsuit “seeks a temporary restraining order ‘to halt biological males from participating in women’s sports.’”
The Colonial School District, in which Quakertown is located, said it would oppose the suit. The plaintiff’s mother said during motions the PIAA “has provided that they concur” with the complaint.
A Quakertown spokesperson said Friday that “it is not within our power to control the actions of another school.” The Colonial School District declined to comment Friday on the lawsuit, but said that “since 2019, the district has followed our school board policy for gender expansive and transgender students.”
“We continue to comply with federal and state law prohibitions on sex discrimination, including the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics,” the district said in a statement, adding that it works “to cultivate a culture of belonging for all students.”
The Inquirer notes the plaintiff at one point told her transgender opponent “You are not a girl. You should not be racing against girls.” This angered the latter’s coaches, who then complained to the Quakertown athletic director.
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IMAGE: Inez Fletcher/X
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