On Thursday, a group of female athletes, led by former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
The lawsuit challenges the NCAA’s policies that permit biological males who identify as transgender to compete in women’s sports, arguing that these policies violate Title IX and the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
The plaintiffs, which include swimmers, track athletes, and volleyball players, allege that the NCAA’s transgender eligibility policies have not only cost them opportunities but have also infringed upon their privacy rights.
Gaines, who was compelled to compete against transgender athlete Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Championships for swimming, recounts being forced to share a locker room with Thomas, a biological male, who undressed in the presence of several women.
🚨it's official!🚨
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…
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) March 14, 2024
According to the lawsuit, “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 plaintiffs argue that the NCAA’s policies subject women to a loss of their constitutional right to bodily privacy by authorizing “naked men possessing full male genitalia to disrobe in front of non-consenting college women.”
Furthermore, the lawsuit accuses the NCAA of attempting to suppress the free speech of athletes through speech codes that could potentially label opposition to men competing in women’s sports as “transphobic.”
The plaintiffs assert that the NCAA’s policies are driven by ideology rather than science, with the organization claiming that biological differences between males and females can be overcome through testosterone suppression in males who identify as transgender.
RELATED: Woman’s Pro Golf League Makes Major Change to Policies Regarding Trans Competitors
“What is disappointing and unlawful is that the NCAA aggressively applies its radical Transgender Eligibility Policies which diminish women’s opportunities despite 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 states.
Big news dropping today…the NCAA continues to actively and openly discriminate against women on the basis of our sex. We issued a legal demand letter last year, but they haven't listened. Stay tuned pic.twitter.com/pQ5cxfGqXg
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) March 14, 2024
The athletes are demanding that the NCAA revoke any awards or records held by biological males who have competed in women’s sports and reverse policies that allow males to compete against females.
RELATED: The American Psychological Association Issues Statement Promoting Transgenderism in K-12 Schools
