Three female former NCAA Division I swimmers sued the Ivy League, the NCAA, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania for Title IX violations concerning transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas’ sweep at the 2022 Ivy League Championships.
The plaintiffs claim the rights of trans woman Thomas were prioritized over their own, as people assigned female at birth.
The suit comes as President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign an executive order Wednesday—the 39th annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day, as part of his campaign pledge to “keep men out of women’s sports.”
The order will set forth Trump’s administration’s interpretation of Title IX, the law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in athletics and prevents sexual harassment on campuses. It follows an executive order signed last week aimed at restricting gender care for people under the age of 19.
The Suit
Named plaintiffs Grace Estabrook, Ellen Holmquist and Margot Kaczorowski are suing on behalf of a class of 206 Ivy League women’s swimmers, who competed at or believe they should have been able to compete at the Ivy League Championships held in 2022 at Harvard Blodgett Pool.
They sued the Ivy League Council of Presidents, also known as the Council of Ivy Group Presidents; the National Collegiate Athletic Association; the president and fellows of Harvard University and the trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.
The plaintiffs filed the Title IX discrimination suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Their suit was spotted on Law.com Radar.
Attorneys William Bock III and Justin R. Olson of Kroger Gardis & Regas in Indianapolis, Indiana and Samuel J. Whiting from the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center in Wakefield, Massachusetts are representing the plaintiff.
Counsel has not yet appeared for the defendants.
Parenthetically, the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center is an initiative of Massachusetts Family Institute, who are holding a rally and press conference at the State House in Boston in support of the Protect Female Athletes Bill today.
Liability Arguments
Three of Thomas’ teamates files the suit on behalf of all 206 Ivy League swimmers who had been eligible to compete in the 2022 Ivy League Championships.
The suit asserts losses that result from competition against a transgender woman constitute a concrete, particularized and redressable injury under Title IX.
The plaintiffs argue the reference to “sex” in Title IX is directed solely at binary, biological sex and not at gender identity. They submit that Title IX not merely authorizes sex-separate teams, but requires them. They say the purpose being that without sex separation, women have less opportunity than men.
The suit accuses the Ivy League, UPenn, Harvard and the NCAA of conspiring and collaborating to permit 6’4” Thomas to compete for the remainder of the 2022 season, after a regulatory change was imposed that would have excluded Thomas from competing.
Their complaint contends that USA Swimming required testosterone suppression for at least 36 months—something Thomas could not achieve as Thomas had not been suppressing testosterone for the previous 36 months, nor had any scientific analysis been conducted to establish Thomas did not retain male competitive advantage.
In fact, the pleading asserts there was minimal mitigation of her male-puberty advantage, comparing Thomas’ best 100 meter freestyle time prior to her transition at 47.15 seconds against her post-transition NCAA Championships prelims time in the event of 47.37.
The swimmer plaintiffs contend that their most important athletic competition, the 2022 Ivy League Championships, become a public spectacle focused onThomas’ to the exclusion and detriment of the plaintiffs. They claim that their accomplishments were ignored.
In addition, the three named plaintiffs claim that they were threatened by administrators at their school who told that them that if they shared their concerns about Thomas’ participation on the team publicly, “their reputations would be tainted with transphobia for the rest of their lives and they would probably never be able to get a job.”
The named plaintiffs understood UPenn’s position to be that if a woman on the team had any problem with a trans-identifying male being on her team, then that woman had a psychological problem and needed counseling.
Damages Arguments
The plaintiffs submit that a man competing on a women’s team, despite his gender identity as a woman, takes opportunities directly from women, in violation of Title IX.
Accordingly, the plaintiffs contend they were denied a meaningful and equal opportunity to compete in the Ivy League Championships, and they accuse the defendants of sex discrimination against women within the meaning of Title IX.
Among other things, the plaintiffs seek injunctive relief vacating Thomas’ records in the records of the Ivy League, the NCAA and all Ivy League member institutions, including Harvard and UPenn and ordering their removal from all public record boards controlled by those entities as well as a declaration that Thomas was ineligible to compete on the UPenn women’s swimming team
Additionally, they want a declaration that the NCAA, the Ivy League, Harvard and UPenn violated Title IX.
What the lawyers are saying
William Bock III, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys is quoted in a statement extracted in the Harvard Crimson, said, “The Ivy League believed that if America’s oldest and most storied educational institutions led the way, Americans would suppress common sense and submit to radical policies that steal young women’s cherished sports opportunities and obliterate biological reality.”
Alluding to the collision described in the lawsuit, he added, “This lawsuit exposes the behind the scenes scheming that led to the attempt by Harvard University, UPenn, the Ivy League and the NCAA, to impose radical gender ideology on the American college sports landscape.”
Numerous suits have been filed on behalf of white men claiming they were discriminated against because of their skin color and sex, including a suit filed this month against Northwestern University alleging that its law school and law review were using discriminatory and illegal racial and sex preferences to ensure that white men are blocked from consideration in favor of less qualified minorities and women.
In late January a similar suit was filed in California against CBS Broadcasting, parent company Paramount Global, where a plaintiff alleged he wasn’t in the defendants’ “preferred group” to be hired for a full-time editor position because he is a straight, white male.
Other lawsuits filed against casinos in the past month include personal injury suits filed against MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas and another Las Vegas casino. That suit is American Alliance for Equal Rights v. City of Chicago, filed: Jan. 29 before Judge Jeffrey I Cummings.
This is a developing story.
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