Female athletes sue NCAA over policies allowing men in women's sports
Riley Gaines, others allege Title IX violations, loss of privacy and opportunities due to transgender athlete policies
A group of over a dozen female athletes, led by former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, filed a federal lawsuit against the NCAA on Thursday, challenging the organization's policies that permit transgender women (biological males) to compete in women's sports.
The plaintiffs argue that the NCAA's stance violates Title IX, the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, and infringes upon their right to privacy. Gaines, who was forced to compete against and share a locker room with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Championships, says she and other female athletes have lost opportunities and endured discomfort due to these policies.
"The NCAA has simultaneously imposed a radical anti-woman agenda on college sports, reinterpreting Title IX to define women as a testosterone level, permitting men to compete on women's teams, and destroying female safe spaces in women's locker rooms," the lawsuit states, accusing the NCAA of subjecting women to "a loss of their constitutional right to bodily privacy."
🚨it's official!🚨
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) March 14, 2024
I'm suing the NCAA along with 15 other collegiate athletes who have lost out on titles, records, & roster spots to men posing as women
The NCAA continues to explicitly violate the federal civil rights law of Title IX. About time someone did something about…
Filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, the suit also claims that the NCAA's speech codes might be interpreted to label opposition to men competing in women's sports as "transphobic," thus chilling the free speech of athletes.
The diverse group of plaintiffs includes swimmers, track athletes, and volleyball players, some of whom have chosen to remain anonymous. They contend that the NCAA's policies are driven by ideology rather than science.
"The sole justification of the Association for its discriminatory Transgender Eligibility Policies ... is that biological differences between males and females can allegedly be overcome by a program of testosterone suppression in males who identify as transgender," the lawsuit asserts.
The athletes argue that the NCAA has prioritized "radical policies" at the expense of female competitors, disregarding the "clear Title IX imperative to hold separate competitions and separate championships for women where physiological advantages of men preclude mixed (or open) competitions."
The lawsuit demands that the NCAA revoke any awards or records held by transgender women who have competed in female categories and reverse policies allowing their participation in women's sports. The legal action marks a significant challenge to the NCAA's approach to transgender athlete inclusion.
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