Former collegiate athlete Riley Gaines filed a lawsuit against the NCAA on Thursday, criticizing the organization's policies for transgender athletes.
"I'm suing the NCAA along with 15 other collegiate athletes who have lost out on titles, records, & roster spots to men posing as women," Gaines, a member of OutKick and host of the Gaines for Girls podcast, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "The NCAA continues to explicitly violate the federal civil rights law of Title IX. About time someone did something about it."
According to Fox News Digital, a portion of the lawsuit demands that the NCAA be required by a judge to have any "awards, records, points, prizes, titles, trophies, announcements or other recognition" given to "any male who competed in women's events or on a women's team" be rendered "invalid."
"The NCAA has simultaneously imposed a radical anti-woman agenda on college sports, reinterpreting Title IX to define women as a testosterone level, permitting men to compete on women's teams," the lawsuit, obtained by Fox News Digital, says.
In a statement to Newsweek, a spokesperson for the NCAA said, "College sports are the premier stage for women's sports in America, and while the NCAA does not comment on pending litigation, the Association and its members will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women's sports and ensure fair competition in all NCAA championships."
The Context
Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer for the University of Kentucky, has been outspoken in her opposition to transgender policies in sports. Gaines has been critical of Lia Thomas, a transgender collegiate swimmer, as the two faced off in several competitions.
As Gaines noted in her social media post, she alleges that the NCAA has violated Title IX, which says: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance," according to the NCAA.
What We Know
According to Fox News Digital, the lawsuit alleges that the NCAA "has aligned with the most radical elements of the so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda on college campuses."
The defendants in the suit, along with the NCAA, include Georgia Tech University, the University System of Georgia, the University of Georgia, the University of North Georgia and regents board members at the University of Georgia, Fox News Digital reported.
The NCAA previously faced criticism from some after Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win a women's national championship in college, prompting questions over the NCAA's transgender policy.
On August 1, 2022, the NCAA's second phase of its transgender policy went into effect, which requires transgender student-athletes to provide specific documentation, "plus meet the sport standard for documented testosterone levels at three points in time."
Views:
While speaking with OutKick The Morning, Gaines said, "What I want to see from the NCAA, and they haven't done thus far, is take accountability and take responsibility."
"We've seen Charlie Baker testify before (lawmakers) a plethora of times and say that, you know, 'We don't really know what the rules are. We don't really know how we feel about this. We haven't issued an apology. We'll just keep working it out on our end,'" Gaines said. "They're cowards is what they are."
Kelly Paul, the wife of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, praised Gaines on social media saying, "You are a brilliant, beautiful force for good in these troubling times!"
In December 2023, Olivia Hunt, a policy director for the National Center for Transgender Equality, responded to criticism of transgender athletes in sports saying that there have been "a long line of cynical attempts by anti-LGBTQ extremists around the country to erase transgender and nonbinary people from our communities."
What's next:
It is currently unclear how the NCAA and others named in the suit, will respond to the allegation.
In April 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing a transgender girl to compete on a female track team in West Virginia, while an appeal moved through the courts, the New York Times reported. However, Gaines previously told Newsweek that she hopes the Supreme Court will take up a different Title IX case in the future.
Update 3/14/24, 2:41 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with further information.
Update 3/14/24, 3:29 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with further information.
Update 3/15/24, 7:22 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from the NCAA.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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