WASHINGTON – On behalf of a mother and her teenage daughter—who unknowingly was forced to face a male opponent in girls’ high-school wrestling—Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court Friday, asking it to require Washington state officials to protect girls’ sports and uphold Title IX’s promise of safety and equal opportunities for women. The request also asks the court to protect parents’ constitutional right to be notified before the school places children in unsafe situations, such as matching females against males in competitive wrestling.
In violation of the federal civil-rights law designed to give girls equal athletic opportunities, Washington officials adopted policies that allow males to compete against females on girls’ teams, which forces girls into unfair competition that threatens their safety. Here, school officials assigned Kallie Keeler, who was then 15 years old, to wrestle a male—an opponent who sexually assaulted her during the match. At the outset of that match, Keeler perceived that her opponent was stronger and more powerful than others she had faced. Only after the match did she learn her assailant was male.
Keeler’s mother, Stephanie Brown, quickly reported the assault, with video evidence showing her daughter’s in-the-moment distressed reaction, but school officials did little in response. After a federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit both declined Keeler’s and her mom’s request to make school officials follow Title IX and protect parental rights, ADF attorneys filed an emergency request with the nation’s high court.
“No girl should have to choose between playing the sport she loves and her safety. But the state of Washington forces female athletes like our client Kallie to compete on uneven playing fields against males, violating Title IX’s promise of equal opportunities for girls,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellant Advocacy John Bursch. “Kallie was just 15 years old when a male wrestler sexually assaulted her. Yet state officials continue to diminish the harm to her, pushing their harmful political agenda ahead of fairness and safety for girls.”
The emergency application for an injunction pending appeal filed in K.M.K. v. Washington Interscholastic Activities Association explains that state officials demand that Keeler “continue competing against males or sit out sports entirely. And they refuse to opt [Keeler] out of matches against males without penalty—or even to give Brown notice of such a match so she may opt [Keeler] out herself.”
“Absent an injunction, [Keeler] will be forced to miss the girls’ wrestling season that begins in November, losing the equal opportunity that Title IX guarantees,” the application continues. “And Brown will continue to be deprived of her parental rights. The public interest favors preserving [Keeler]’s and Brown’s rights, and [Washington state officials] can easily return to the sex-based sports system that they long maintained and that state law explicitly allows.”
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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