SEATTLE – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a teenage female wrestler and her mother filed their opening brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit Tuesday asking it to require Washington state officials to respect parental rights and protect girls’ sports.
A federal district court denied preliminary relief to Kallie Keeler and her mother, Stephanie Brown, who are suing state officials after those officials directed Keeler to take the mat without telling her or her mother that her opponent was a male. During the match, the male sexually assaulted Keeler and Keeler allowed herself to be pinned after a second unconsented-to touching. Brown quickly reported the assault, with video evidence showing Keeler’s in-the-moment reaction, to coaches and school staff, but district officials did little.
“A 15-year-old girl was sexually assaulted because of political cowardice. Washington state officials insist on pushing gender ideology, even at the expense of girls’ safety, privacy, and fairness,” said ADF Senior Counsel Hal Frampton, director of the ADF Center for Conscience Initiatives. “Our client’s injury shows the grave harms caused by lying about biology. Washington’s policies subject Kallie to an unfair athletic disadvantage and to safety risks because they would require her to wrestle males again—unless she leaves the sport she loves. We’re urging the court to require state and school officials to respect parental rights and prioritize girls’ safety in sports.”
Keeler, who was 15 at the time of the incident, was matched against a male athlete without her or her mother’s knowledge during a high school girls’ wrestling tournament under the aegis of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association in December 2025. During the match, when the more powerful male athlete sexually assaulted Keeler, she appeared visibly distressed while competing and tried to communicate what was happening to her mother, who was recording the match. Keeler left the mat crying.
After the match, another team’s coach informed Keeler that her opponent was male. District officials failed to timely report the assault. They then told Brown and her daughter that they would continue to allow males in girls’ wrestling and would not provide Brown with notice before matching Keeler against a male in the future or opt Keeler out of those matches. Brown and her daughter are asking the Ninth Circuit to protect their rights not to be unknowingly forced to compete against a male athlete.
The brief filed in Brown v. Washington Interscholastic Activities Association explains how “absent a preliminary injunction, Brown will continue to be deprived of her constitutional rights, and [Keeler] will miss another season of high-school sports—and the equal opportunity Title IX guarantees—because of [Washington state officials’] unlawful policies.”
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.
# # #
