Three Oregon high schoolers have filed a federal lawsuit demanding that transgender athletes be banned from competing in future girls’ sports events and have their past records scrubbed, arguing that trans girls have “unfair and discriminatory” physiological advantages over cisgender girls.
The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Oregon accuses three school districts and state entities of violating the federal civil rights law Title IX. The suit argues that these entities have eliminated equal opportunities for girls in track and field events by allowing trans girls — whom the suit refers to as “biological males” — to compete with cisgender girls.
“Permitting biological males to compete in girls’ sports ignores the physiological advantages men have over women and undermines the very purpose of sex-segregated competition intended to provide equal opportunities for females,” states the lawsuit, which was brought by the America First Policy Institute, a think tank founded by various Trump administration officials.
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The suit refers to a trans athlete in Portland, Oregon, identified as A.G., who has “consistently dominated” spring track events while setting season records. Another trans athlete, identified as L.R., has become “an all-star” in the girls’ high jump after previously failing to qualify or achieve high rankings while competing among males, according to the lawsuit.
The suit states that, for comparison, there have been “no reports” of cisgender boys being outcompeted by trans boys in school sports.
“This is no surprise given the physiological advantages that males have over females in athletic competition,” the suit states, citing “advantages in muscle mass and strength, height and limb length, bone structure and density, and lung and cardiovascular capacity.”
The lawsuit demands that Oregon erase trans girls’ athletic records, victories and other qualifications they achieved in girls sports and to instead credit the cisgender girls who lost to them.
Debate over the protections that Title IX offers trans athletes has been growing in recent years, with dozens of states issuing their own rules on the matter that either protect or deny trans students’ participation.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D), who serves as the superintendent of public instruction and is the highest-ranking official at the Oregon Department of Education, has opposed legislation that would ban transgender athletes from girls sports. She is named as a defendant in the suit.
Kotek’s office declined to comment to HuffPost.
The Trump administration has meanwhile announced that it will rescind federal funding for any education program that allows trans girls to compete in girls sports, calling the practice “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls.”
It launched an investigation into two Oregon school institutions in March for letting a trans girl participate in girls track and field events, Oregon Live reported.
The Trump administration also filed a civil lawsuit in April against the state of Maine after it argued that Title IX protects transgender athletes from discrimination.
The Supreme Court said earlier this month that it will consider a case this fall over state restrictions on which school sports teams transgender students can join.
