The plaintiffs allege their Title IX rights were violated when UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas, a transgender person, participated in the children’s national championships.
The lawsuit, filed in U. S. District Court, argues the NCAA’s trans enrollment procedures, revised in 2022 to coincide with national sports governing body, “adversely effect female players in violation of Title IX”.
The sportsmen also allege that the NCAA violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause by treating women differently in comparison to men, denying women economical opportunities in the same way that men do, and violating women’s physical privacy.
The University System of Georgia is also named in the lawsuit because Georgia Tech hosted the 2022 finals, according to Inside Higher Ed. The lawsuit argues that the NCAA should not use these rules at future Georgian events.
In 2022, Thomas won the 500-yard slalom in front of three Olympic finalists, making him the first openly transgender athlete to do so. The complaint says by never making the final, Florida diver Tylor Mathieu, who is not named as a plaintiff, was denied primary- team All- National honors in that event. Thomas, who previously competed for the men’s team at Penn before her gender transition, also reached the finals in two other events.
Riley Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer, is one of the women who filed the lawsuit, which details the shock Riley and other swimmers experienced when they learned they would share a locker room with Thomas at the championships, according to AP News. Additionally, it lists the various races they competed with Thomas, including the 200-yard final, where Gaines and Thomas tied for fifth place but were awarded the fifth-place trophy.
Additionally, the athletes are suing the NCAA to invalidate and revise all records and titles that were established in accordance with the results of competitions that allowed transgender athletes to participate, according to CNN. The plaintiffs, who also include track and volleyball athletes, claim they filed the lawsuit” to secure for future generations of women the promise of Title IX that the NCAA has denied them and other college women.”
The NCAA’s revised policy, which includes national and international sports governing body standards, is scheduled to go into effect for the 2024-2025 school year.
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