Two Eastern Washington high school students turn to Trump Administration to bar trans athlete from competing
Apr. 4—Two Washington female athletes are asking the Trump administration to stop a champion transgender runner from competing in the ongoing high school track and field season.
The civil rights complaint was sent to the U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative religious law firm. The firm has been part of several recent Supreme Court cases, most notably, the successful overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2023.
The complaint was filed on behalf of two high school girls, one from Gonzaga Preparatory School and one from Prosser High School. It stems in part from last year's controversy regarding Verónica Garcia, the East Valley High School student who took first place in the 400-meter run during the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association 2A track and field championships in Tacoma.
The athlete from Prosser placed 13th in the race and would compete against Garcia again this year if the two qualify for state.
The student from Gonzaga Prep, Kora Lengerich, typically competes in a different classification than Garcia, but raced against her this season during a preseason meet on March 17 at Gonzaga Prep. Her mother Kimberly Lengerich, pursued the complaint on behalf of her daughter, who finished fourth in the race and thus was not on the podium. Garcia placed first in the 400-meter race, prompting the firm to point out that Garcia's participation "kept (Lengerich) off the podium."
When Garcia, now a senior, won last year's state championship, some fans booed and jeered. One man shouted from the stands, "She's not a girl!"
"I'm just a teenager. I wish people would remember that," Garcia told The Spokesman-Review in an interview last year following her win. "... Even if you don't understand why we're transgender, the very least is to be nice to us. Kindness goes a long way."
The claim contends that allowing a Washington transgender teen to compete in high school sports is putting other competitors at a disadvantage and in turn violates Title IX, the federal law ensuring equal opportunity in schools and prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex.
The student from Prosser, Soliel Hoefer, was already named Female Track and Field Athlete of the Year by her school for two years in a row and signed to play soccer at Walla Walla Community College, according to the complaint. She has also placed first in several track events this year.
The Alliance Defending Freedom claims the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association does not give students "fair opportunities to win" based on its 19-year-old policy allowing students to compete in a sport division surrounding the gender they most consistently express.
"All students have the opportunity to participate in WIAA athletics and/or activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity," the 2023-24 WIAA handbook reads.
Following the controversy of Garcia's win, WIAA spokesperson Sean Bessette defended the association's policies and gave a nod to state law, both of which include transgender identity in their definitions on gender identity discrimination.
"The WIAA considers numerous personal, political, and religious beliefs of communities that join the Association," according to a statement provided by Bessette. "Many of these beliefs do not align, resulting in a conflict among the diverse groups the Association serves. For this reason, the WIAA Executive Board has been advised to follow state and federal law."
In January, however, a federal judge in Kentucky struck down former President Joe Biden's regulation to expand Title IX protections for LGBTQIA+ students, a regulation that was already halted by numerous lawsuits from Republicans. Washington still has a law protecting the rights of transgender people.
The number of transgender teens in K-12 sports is unclear but in the NCAA, fewer than 10 identify as transgender, according to its president, Charlie Baker.
President Donald Trump has continually brought transgender student athletes into the national spotlight. In February, he issued an executive order dubbed "Keeping Men Out Of Women's Sports," which refers to anything outside the scope of two sexes as "gender ideology extremism." The order states that allowing transgender women to compete in sports denies women an equal opportunity to compete.
The conservative firm wrote in the complaint that now, due to the executive order, Washington schools should be required to amend policies to allow athletes "based on sex, not gender identity" and to "remedy all past violations" of the Title IX law.
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