Metro softball players sue Ellison, MSHSL director over transgender athlete participation
A lawsuit was filed Monday against Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison, Minnesota State High School League executive director Erich Martens and numerous others by a group representing three metro high school softball athletes centered on the state allowing an athlete to play high school softball who plaintiffs allege was born male.
The organization behind the suit is Female Athletes United, which is representing one softball player from Maple Grove and two from Farmington. The suit cites an unfair playing field.
The MSHSL voted in 2015 to allow the inclusion of transgender athletes into girls sports. That decision came back under fire on Feb. 5, when President Trump signed an executive order aimed at prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports.
At the time, the Minnesota State High School League said the executive order is at odds with the Human Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Minnesota Constitution, which prohibits discrimination 'against any person in any protected class, which includes sexual orientation and gender identity.'
The U.S. Department of Education then announced it was launching an investigation into the high school athletic associations in Minnesota and California.
Ellison filed a suit against the Trump administration last month, saying in part that the he viewed the President's executive orders as 'bullying' of transgender children.
The lawsuit states that Minnesota's policy 'expands opportunities for male athletes to compete and experience victory at the expense of female athletes. Minnesota's female athletes suffer as a result — experiencing fewer opportunities to play, win, advance, and receive recognition in their own. And these female athletes also suffer the mental burden of knowing that their rights are secondary. Their hard work may never be enough to win.'
The lawsuit describes the three represented players' interactions with the athlete it alleges to be male as one player's team repeatedly losing to and struggling to score against the pitcher, one pitcher having to compete with the other athlete for playing time on a club team and the third athlete getting hit by a pitch thrown by the alleged male athlete.
The suit stated that the athletes didn't believe it was 'fair' that that would have to potentially compete against the alleged male athlete in postseason competition.
Section softball tournaments opened across the state this week.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Gold Turns Higher on Increased Uncertainty
Gold prices gain as comments from President Trump instill some new economic worries heading into the summer. Trump posted on his Truth Social account that China's President Xi was "extremely hard to make a deal with," and also demanded Fed Chair Jerome Powell lower interest rates.
The Hill
8 minutes ago
- The Hill
Doug Ford urges Canada's leader to ramp up tariffs on US
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is pressuring Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney to ramp up tariffs against the United States after President Trump doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum earlier this week. 'I highly recommended to the prime minister directly that we slap another 25 percent on top of our tariffs to equal President Trump's tariffs on our steel,' Ford said during his Wednesday appearance on CNN's 'Situation Room.' 'He has to, he has to start looking around the world at China and other locations that are taking Chinese steel and really stop the flow of steel. That's the problem,' Ford told host Wolf Blitzer. 'Canada is not the problem. Again. We purchased 30 billion, with a 'B,' of steel off the US, and that's going to come to an end real quick.' Trump signed the executive order to hike the tariffs on Tuesday. The measure went into effect on Wednesday and would levy steel and aluminum tariffs on almost all imports to the U.S.. The United Kingdom is exempt as it inked a trade deal with Washington last month. Canada has retaliated against the U.S. previously, slapping a 25 percent reciprocal tariff on U.S. aluminum and steel products. Carney, who met with Trump at the White House in early May, did not express readiness to implement Ford's suggestion. 'We will take some time, not much, some time because we are in intensive discussions right now with the Americans on the trading relationship,' Carney said to reporters on Wednesday, according to Politico. 'Those discussions are progressing. I would note that the American action is a global action. It's not one targeted in Canada, so we will take some time, but not more,' the prime minister said. Ontario is open to imposing its own countermeasures, according to Ford. When asked on Wednesday if willing to bring back the electricity surcharge, he told reporters that 'everything's on the table.' Ontario implemented a 25 percent extra charge on the electricity Canada exports to three U.S. states after Trump threatened to double tariffs on steel and aluminum. Ford eventually spoke to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and later suspended the tax impacting Michigan, New York and Minnesota.
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
San Francisco leaders blast Trump for trying to erase gay rights icon Harvey Milk's name from ship
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Leaders in San Francisco are blasting the Trump administration for stripping the name of gay rights activist Harvey Milk from a U.S. naval ship, and especially during Pride Month, when people gather to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. Milk is a revered figure in San Francisco history, a former city supervisor and gay rights advocate who was fatally shot along with Mayor George Moscone in 1978 by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White. Just last month, California marked what would have been Milk's 95th birthday with proclamations heralding his authenticity, kindness and calls for unity. He served for four years in the Navy during the Korean War, before he was forced out for being gay. Milk later moved to San Francisco, where he became one of the first out gay politicians in the world with his election to the Board of Supervisors in 1977. Cleve Jones, a close friend and LGBTQ+ activist, dismissed the renaming as an attempt by the Trump administration to distract the American public from far more serious concerns, including the ongoing war in Gaza and looming cuts to Medicaid and Social Security. "Yes, this is cruel and petty and stupid, and yes, it's an insult to my community," Jones said. 'I would be willing to wager a considerable sum that American families sitting around that proverbial kitchen table this evening are not going to be talking about how much safer they feel now that Harvey's name is going to be taken off that ship.' The Pentagon has not confirmed news of the renaming, a highly rare move, but unnamed officials say the change was laid out in an internal memo. It is in keeping with attempts by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the broader Trump administration to purge all programs, policies, books and social media mentions of references to diversity, equity and inclusion. A new name has not yet been selected for the USNS Harvey Milk. Milk's nephew, Stuart Milk, said in a phone call Wednesday that he and the Harvey Milk Foundation have reached out to the Pentagon, which confirmed there is a proposed name change on the table. 'And our hope is that the recommendation is put aside, but if it's not, it will be a rallying cry not just for our community but for all minority communities,' said Stuart Milk, who is executive chair of the foundation, adding that his uncle always said that gay rights, and those of other marginalized communities, required constant vigilance. 'So I don't think he'd be surprised," Milk said, 'but he'd be calling on us to remain vigilant, to stay active.' Elected officials, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, called the move a shameful attempt to erase the contributions of LGBTQ+ people and an insult to fundamental American values of honoring veterans and those who worked to build a better country. Pelosi and Newsom are both San Francisco Democrats. Newsom took aim at Hegseth, calling the attempt 'A cowardly act from a man desperate to distract us from his inability to lead the Pentagon" on the social platform X. The USNS Harvey Milk was named in 2016 by then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who said at the time that the John Lewis-class of oilers would be named after leaders who fought for civil and human rights. Sean Penn portrayed Milk in an Oscar-winning 2008 movie depicting his audacious rise in politics and his death by a supervisor who cast the sole "no" vote on his legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. While the renaming attempt is rare, the Biden administration also changed the names of two Navy ships in 2023 as part of the effort to remove Confederate names from U.S. military installations.
