High School softball players blast Minnesota laws on transgender athletes in new federal lawsuit

CBS News

20-05-2025

A Texas-based nonprofit has filed suit against several Minnesota agencies, including the Minnesota State High School League, alleging that their policy surrounding transgender athletes violates Title IX and undermines fairness and safety for female athletes.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court Monday by Female Athletes United, a nonprofit organization that says it "advocates for fairness, safety, and equal opportunity for women and girls in sports." The organization says it has members across the country, including female athletes participating in high school sports in Minnesota.
"Boys are displacing and defeating girls in competitive sports," the complaint reads, adding that Minnesota's policy allowing athletes to play based on their gender identity "expands opportunities for male athletes to compete and experience victory at the expense of female athletes," according to the plaintiffs.
The defendants listed in the lawsuit include Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minnesota State High School League Executive Director Erich Martens, Minnesota Commission on Civil Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero and Minnesota Commissioner of Education Willie Jett. The suit was filed on behalf of three high school students in Anoka and Dakota counties.
The lawsuit claims that Minnesota's transgender athlete policy, which allows "biologically male students" to compete in female sports if they identify as female, has led to those assigned male at birth "displacing and defeating girls in competitive sports."
The lawsuit specifies that a 16-year-old girl at Maple Grove Senior High School, who is a member of Female Athletes United, competed in varsity softball against a team with a "biologically male athlete" and lost in a regular season game and sectionals.
"Losing at sectionals meant that her team did not have a chance to advance to the state tournament," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges another Female Athletes United member, a 16-year-old female athlete at Farmington High School, was hit by a pitch thrown by a "biologically male athlete" competing in girls' softball. The girl had "never experienced pain like this when getting hit by pitches on other occasions," the lawsuit said.
The school districts listed as defendants govern the high schools in Maple Grove and Farmington.
In addition to ending the participation of transgender athletes in female sports, the lawsuit seeks to have the defendants "correct all records" where Female Athletes United members lost to "biologically male athletes" or teams that include them.
Ellison's office issued the following statement in response to the suit:
"In addition to getting exercise and the fun of competition, playing sports comes with so many benefits for young people. You build friendships that can last a lifetime, you learn how to work as part of a team, and you get to feel like you belong. I believe it is wrong to single out one group of students, who already face higher levels of bullying and harassment, and tell these kids they cannot be on the team because of who they are. I will continue to defend the rights of all students to play sports with their friends and peers."
And the state's department of human rights said, "The Minnesota Human Rights Act is one the strongest civil rights laws in the country and protects every Minnesotan from discrimination. We will respond in court."
WCCO has reached out to the other defendants named in the lawsuit and are awaiting response.
Ellison earlier sued the Trump administration over its transgender policies
Last month, Ellison announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming the president's two executive orders targeting transgender youth and adults violate both the U.S. Constitution and Title IX. The lawsuit requests the court declare the orders unconstitutional and unlawful, Ellison said.
The week before, the Department of Justice sued Maine's education department for "discriminating against women by failing to protect women in women's sports" in what U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi alleged is a violation of Title IX.
Bondi added that the DOJ's actions in Maine could be followed by moves in other states, including Minnesota. Bondi previously sent letters to Ellison and Erich Martens, director of the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL), warning them "Minnesota should be on notice" and her department "will hold accountable states and state entities that violate federal law."
This story is developing and will be updated.