Latest news with #FemaleAthletesUnited
Fox News
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
Minnesota AG sued for letting biological males play in girls sports amid trans softball player dominance
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is facing a lawsuit for enabling trans athletes to compete in girls sports as the state faces an ongoing controversy involving a trans pitcher dominating the softball season. The religious law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the activist group Female Athletes United and three anonymous girls softball players in the state over the ongoing controversy. "Minnesota is failing its female athletes. The state is putting the rights of males ahead of females, telling girls their hard work may never be enough to win and that they don't deserve fairness and safety," Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Suzanne Beecher told Fox News Digital. "By sacrificing protection for female athletes, Minnesota fails to offer girls equal treatment and opportunity, violating Title IX's provisions. Our client, Female Athletes United, is right to stand up for its members by challenging the state's discriminatory policy and advocate for true equality in sports." The defendants are Ellison, the Minnesota State High School League Executive Director Erich Martens, Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero and Minnesota Commissioner of Education Willie Jett. Ellison's office has released a statement responding to the lawsuit. "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," Ellison said. "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." Reports of the trans softball pitcher winning 14 straight games heading into the playoffs and earning first-team All-State honors rocked the state in recent weeks. Former Vikings player Jack Brewer even spoke out about the controversy rocking his state's high school sports scene. "In any sport — especially something like softball — people can get seriously hurt. A man hits the ball harder. A man throws the ball faster. So, the idea of allowing men to compete in women's softball — especially now, when that sport has grown in visibility and opportunity — is insane," Brewer told Fox News Digital. Meanwhile, Ellison is suing President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice to ensure transgender athletes can continue participating in girls sports in the state. After Trump signed the "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order, the Minnesota State High School League announced it would defy federal law by allowing transgender athletes to continue playing in women's sports. Ellison then claimed at a press conference on April 22 that he received notice from the Department of Justice threatening legal action if the state did not follow the executive order, so the AG decided to sue first. "I'm not going to sit around waiting for the Trump administration to sue Minnesota. Today, Minnesota is suing him and his administration because we will not participate in this shameful bullying," Ellison said. "We will not let a small group of vulnerable children who are only trying be healthy and live their lives be demonized." The White House has responded to the lawsuit, condemning Ellison for taking legal action to enable trans inclusion. "Why would a grown man sue the Trump administration to allow other biological males to participate in women's sports? This is creepy and anti-woman," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital. Minnesota's state legislature failed to pass the "Preserving Girls' Sports Act" in early March, which would have stated that "only female students may participate in an elementary or secondary school level athletic team or sport that an educational institution has restricted to women and girls." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
CBS News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
High School softball players blast Minnesota laws on transgender athletes in new federal lawsuit
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.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Attorneys for female athletes defend Trump order on women's sports in NH case
Feb. 24—Attorneys representing Female Athletes United filed a motion Friday in federal court to intervene in the suit brought by two New Hampshire transgender high school athletes. The organization is looking to defend the state's new transgender sports law and two executive orders by President Donald Trump, which it says protect women's sports. Female Athletes United, which has members in New Hampshire and across the country who say they have lost in athletic competitions to male athletes, is being represented by lawyers from the Alliance Defending Freedom. HB 1205, a state law also known as the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," was enacted last summer, but a federal judge blocked enforcement after attorneys for the families of Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, the two transgender teens, challenged the law. Tirrell, a sophomore at Plymouth Regional High School, was allowed to play girls soccer for Plymouth last fall. Turmelle, a freshman at Pembroke Academy, wanted to try out for girls tennis this spring. The New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association told member schools to follow Trump's Feb. 5 executive order called "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," saying in a news release that noncompliance could lead to "possible consequences to federal funding." Attorneys for the families have now expanded the lawsuit and challenged that Trump order and one that he signed on Jan. 20 titled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government" and "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports. "The Trump Administration's executive orders amount to a coordinated campaign to prevent transgender people from functioning in society," said Chris Erchull, senior staff attorney at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), which is representing the families along with the ACLU of New Hampshire. "The systematic targeting of transgender people across American institutions is chilling, but targeting young people in schools, denying them support and essential opportunities during their most vulnerable years, is especially cruel. "School sports are an important part of education — something no child should be denied simply because of who they are." In their brief, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Concord, Female Athletes United's lawyers say the organization has members across the country who want to "compete on a safe and level playing field and cannot do so if they are forced to compete against males." "That includes members who have been forced to compete against male athletes who identify as female," the brief says. "And it includes members who have had to do so in New Hampshire. Plus, the facial relief that plaintiffs seek extends beyond just sports teams. It would affect the executive orders' protections for female locker rooms, restrooms, and other private spaces, and (Female Athletes United) and its members also have a concrete interest in keeping males out of those private spaces." "Women and girls deserve privacy, safety, and equal opportunities. That can't happen when males are competing in women's sports, taking spots on women's athletic teams, and winning women's championships," Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel and vice president of litigation Jonathan Scruggs said in a statement. "President Trump's executive orders and New Hampshire's law merely recognize common sense and track Title IX, the federal law that ensures equal opportunities for women in athletics. While the rest of the world is returning to biological reality, activists continue to push gender ideology in schools and sports across the country. "But female athletes have already suffered enough humiliation of losing to males in women's sports and being told to stay silent — we are urging the court to consider their voices when deciding this vital case." pfeely@
