Female athletes, four states ask court to preserve fairness, safety

WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys

WHAT: Available for media interviews following hearing in State of Kansas v. U.S. Department of Education

WHEN: Immediately following the hearing, which begins at 9 a.m. CDT, Thursday, June 20

WHERE: U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, Room 238, 401 N. Market St., Wichita. To schedule an interview, contact ADF Deputy Director of Media Relations AnnMarie Pariseau at (480) 417-3975.

WICHITA, Kan. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing parents, students, and female athletes will be available for media interviews following a hearing Thursday in federal district court in State of Kansas v. U.S. Department of Education.

ADF attorneys, together with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and the attorneys general from Alaska, Utah, and Wyoming, filed a federal lawsuit last month against the Biden administration for its attempt to rewrite Title IX, a federal law designed to create equal opportunities for students in education and athletics.

“The Biden administration’s radical redefinition of sex won’t just rewire our educational system. It means girls will be forced to undress in locker rooms and share hotel rooms with boys on overnight school trips, teachers and students will have to refrain from speaking truthfully about biological sex, and girls will lose their right to fair competition in sports,” said ADF Legal Counsel Rachel Rouleau. “The administration continues to ignore biological reality, science, and commonsense, and women and girls, including our brave clients in this case, are suffering as a result.”

“If President Biden has his way, a 16-year-old female high school student on an overnight field trip could be forced to share a hotel room with a male who identifies as a girl, or the district would risk losing federal funding,” said Kobach, who will be arguing before the court. “A 14-year-old girl could be forced to share a locker room and change in front of an 18-year-old man who identifies as a woman, or the district could lose funds. It’s unconscionable, it’s dangerous for girls and women, and it’s against federal law.”

In the case, ADF attorneys represent Female Athletes United, an organization made up of female athletes and other individuals who are devoted to protecting women’s sports, and Katie Rowland, a 13-year-old student who had to stop using the restrooms at her Oklahoma public school for a time because of males accessing this private space.

The attorneys explain in the lawsuit that when Rowland was just 11 years old, she entered her middle school’s girls’ restroom and was surprised to find a boy in the restroom. Scared and confused, she asked the male student why he was in the girls’ restroom. This situation made Rowland feel so uncomfortable that she progressively went from checking to see if there were any boys in the girls’ restroom to avoiding using the restroom altogether on school days—waiting nearly nine hours from getting on the bus to returning home.

Two other advocacy groups, Moms for Liberty and Young America’s Foundation, also joined the lawsuit. Together, they formed a broad coalition challenging the administration’s attempt to redefine “sex” in federal law to include “gender identity,” and to protect the privacy, safety, free speech, and fairness for students and teachers.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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