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Female Athletes United v. Ellison

Description: Female Athletes United is challenging a discriminatory Minnesota policy that allows male athletes to compete in women’s sports, resulting in males displacing and defeating females in their own sports.

Female athletes challenge Minnesota law that violates Title IX

Female athletes challenge Minnesota law that violates Title IX

Tuesday, Aug 19, 2025

WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys

WHAT: Available for media interviews following oral argument in Female Athletes United v. Ellison

WHEN: Immediately following oral arguments, which begin at 9 a.m. CDT, Wed., Aug. 20

WHERE: Warren E. Burger Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, 316 N. Robert St., Suite 100, St. Paul, Minnesota. To schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations Manager Hattie Troutman at (771) 200-7630.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent Female Athletes United in a lawsuit challenging a discriminatory Minnesota athletics policy that violates the equal treatment and athletic opportunities for girls guaranteed by Title IX.

“Minnesota is failing its female athletes,” said ADF Senior Counsel Rory Gray, who will be arguing before the court. “The state is putting males ahead of females, telling girls their hard work may never be enough to win and that they don’t deserve fairness and safety. By sacrificing protection for female athletes, Minnesota fails to offer girls equal treatment and opportunity, violating Title IX’s provisions. We are advocating for true equality in sports and urge the court to enjoin Minnesota’s discriminatory policy.”

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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Related Resources

ABOUT Suzanne Beecher

Suzanne Beecher serves as legal counsel for the Center for Conscience Initiatives at Alliance Defending Freedom. Prior to joining ADF, Beecher was the director of student programs at the Institute for Human Ecology at The Catholic University of America, where she coordinated programs relating to human rights, Catholic social teaching, and civic engagement. Beecher has also served as a civil rights analyst for the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Before serving at HHS, Beecher was associate counsel at First Liberty Institute. In this position, she represented the organization at religious liberty meetings and events, performed legal research and writing, and assisted in preparing educational materials on the legal status of religious liberty in different arenas. She received a Juris Doctor magna cum laude from Notre Dame Law School and a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from Baylor University. She is a member of the California and District of Columbia bars.

ABOUT Rory Gray

Rory Gray serves as senior counsel on Alliance Defending Freedom’s Appellate Advocacy Team. In that role, he represents ADF clients primarily at the appellate level and specializes in litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Courts of Appeals. Since 2011, Gray has served on the main litigation teams in five merits cases that ADF successfully litigated at the U.S. Supreme Court: Thomas More Law Center v. Bonta, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer, Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, and Reed v. Town of Gilbert. He has litigated cases at all levels of federal and state courts, argued three cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals, and filed a wide array of amicus briefs on religious freedom, free speech, and life issues. Before joining ADF, Gray clerked for the Hon G. Steven Agee on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 2009–2011 and for the Hon. Bobby R. Baldock on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from 2007–2009. Gray completed ADF’s Blackstone Legal Fellowship and was commissioned as a Blackstone Fellow in 2005 after an internship with the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom. Gray earned his J.D. and B.A. degrees from Washington and Lee University, graduating magna cum laude in 2007 and summa cum laude in 2004, respectively. A member of the state bars of Georgia, Arizona, and Virginia, Gray is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, 12 U.S. Courts of Appeals, and various other appellate and trial courts.